V.8 


DAILY  BIBLE  ILLUSTRATIONS: 


ORIGINAL  READINGS  FOR  A  YEAR, 


v»    SUBJECTS     FROM 


SACRED  HISTORY,  BIOGRAPHY,  GEOGRAPHY, 
ANTIQUITIES,  AND  THEOLOGY. 


ESPECIALLY    DESIGNED    FOR    THE    FAMILY    CIRCLE. 

BY  JOHN  K1TT0,  D.D.  F.S.A., 

DITOR    OF    'THE    PICTORIAL    BIBLE,'    '  CrCLOP^EDIA    OF    flIBJJflA„„ 

LITERATURE,'    ETC.,    ETC.  y^A^vV"*  '"C^l 

(*     JAN  IS  1911 
(gaining  ttxiu.  ^%^fk{^i$ 

THE  APOSTLES  AND  EARLY  CHURCH. 


NEW  YORK: 

dOBERT    CARTER    &    BROTHERS, 

No.    2  85    BROADWAY. 

1855. 


STEREOTYPED    BIT  PRINTED   BY 

THOMAS   B.   SMITH,  JOHN  A.  GRAY, 

21G  William  St.,  N.  Y.  97  Cliff  Street. 


PREFACE. 


The  closing  volume  of  the  entire  series  of  Daily  Bible  Il- 
lustrations is  now  presented  to  the  reader. 

The  views  on  which  the  author  has  proceeded,  and  the  objects 
at  which  he  has  aimed,  have  been  too  often  stated  to  need  fur- 
ther explanation.  As  this,  however,  is  the  last  opportunity  that 
will  be  afforded  to  him  of  alluding  to  the  subject,  he  may  be 
allowed  to  say,  once  for  all,  that,  in  the  execution  of  this  work, 
it  has  been  his  desire  to  make  the  new  familiar,  and  to  make  the 
familiar  new.  This  has  been  pronounced  by  a  great  authority* 
to  be  a  worthy  object  of  human  endeavor.  How  far — how 
very  far — the  author  has  fallen  short  of  his  own  aims  and  pur- 
poses, none  can  know  so  well  as  himself:  how  far  he  has 
reached  towards  them,  must  be  judged  by  a  public  from  which, 
during  a  long  intercourse,  he  has  experienced  too  much  indul- 
gence to  have  any  wish  to  appeal  from  its  decisions. 

In  the  present  volume  the  historical  intimations  contained  in 
the  Epistles  have  been  carefully  gathered  up,  and  interwoven 
with  the  leading  matter  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The 
conclusions  exhibited  are  founded  on  a  critical  reading  of  the 
sacred  text — the  special  results  of  which  are,  whenever  neces- 
sary or  when  peculiarly  interesting,  explained ;  but  are  more 
frequently  embodied  in  the  statement  or  recital,  without  re- 
mark. 

Although  the  author  has  exercised  an  independent  judgment 
upon  the  matters  that  have  come  before  him  in  the  progress 
of  this  work,  and  has  perhaps  been  favored  by  circumstances 
with  some  peculiar  advantages  for  the  undertaking  now  com- 
pleted, be  'has  felt  it  due  to  his  readers,  to  the  essential  use- 
fulness of  the  work,  and  to  the  demands  of  the  time,  to  avail 
himself  of  every  source  of  information  to  which  he  could  ob- 

*  Dr.  Johnson  in  Life  of  Pope. 


VI  PREFACE. 

tain  access.  The  essentially  popular  plan  of  the  work  has  not, 
however,  allowed  of  minute  references  to  books.  Some  have 
been  given,  when  particularly  required  ;  but  the  titles  of  works 
thus  furnished,  bear  but  an  exceedingly  small  proportion  to  the 
number  actually  consulted.  It  may  suffice  to  state  that  (apart 
from  Commentaries  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles)  the  works  by 
which  he  believes  himself  to  have  been  most  materially  aided 
in  the  present  volume,  or  to  which  he  has  had  most  frequent 
occasion  to  refer,  are: — Coneybeare  and  Howson,  Life  and 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  1853 ;  Lewin,  Life  and  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  1850;  Benson,  History  of  the  v  First  Planting  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  1750 ;  Cave,  Lives  of  the  Apostles ; 
Lorenz,  Annales  Paullini,  1769 ;  and  the  Chronological  Writ- 
ings of  Pearson,  Burton,  Gresswell,  Moldenhauer,  Schott,  "Wie- 
seler,  Anger,  and  Gumpach ;  Hemsen,  Der  Apostel  Paulus,  seine 
Leben,  "Wirken  und  seine  Schriften,  1830  ;  Schrader,  Der  Apos- 
tel Paulus,  1830-84 ;  Hessel,  Das  Leben  des  Apostel  Paulus, 
1837;  Scharling,  De  Paulo  Apost.  ejusque  adversariis  Com- 
ment., 1836 ;  Biscoe,  History  of  the  Acts  confirmed ;  Paley, 
Hor®  Paulinse,  by  T.  R;  Birks,  1850 ;  Tate,  Continuous  History 
of  St.  Paul;  Neander,  History  of  the  Planting,  &c,  of  the 
Christian  Church,  translated  by  T.  E.  Ryland,  1851;  James 
Smith  of  Jordanhill,  Esq. ; — Yoyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul, 
1848 ;  Maitland,  Church  in  the  Catacombs,  1846. 

In  conclusion,  the  author  trusts  it  will  not  be  deemed  pre- 
sumptuous to  express  the  hope — the  prayer — that  a  blessing 
from  above  may  rest  upon  even  this  humble  endeavor  to  pro- 
mote the  knowledgo  of  God's  word ;  by  rendering  the  appre- 
hensive study  of  its  contents  a  labor  of  love  to  many. 

J.  K. 

I«ondon,  January,  1854. 


CONTENTS 


FORTIETH  WEEK 

Page 

The  Holy  Ghost •  Jl 

A  New  Apostle J* 

Pentecost • l8 

The  Gift  of  Tongues 2J 

The  Beautiful  Gate 2j> 

The  Lame  Beggar 29 

All  Things  Common 34 

FORTY-FIRST  WEEK. 

Ananias  and  Sapphira <j8 

Peter's  Shadow *J 

Gamaliel *b 

Theudas  and  Judas brL 

Murmurs 

Stephen «J 

Stoning b' 

FORTY-SECOND  WEEK. 

The  Persecution JJ  jj 

Philip  the  Evangelist " « 

Simon  Magus 82 

The  Ethiopian  Eunuch • 88 

Saul  of  Tarsus 92. 


Tarsus 

Saul  at  School. 


91 
101 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK. 

Scripture  Reading J06 

Saul  at  Jerusalem j^y 

Saul's  Conversion J Jj* 

Incidents  of  Saul's  Conversion Jl» 

Evidence  from  Saul's  Conversion 123 

Damascus ***j 

Saul  in  Arabia lob 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK. 

Page 

Grace 141 

Saul's  Escape  from  Damascus 145 

Aretas  the  King 149 

Visit  to  Jerusalem 153 

Corroborative  Circumstances 157 

The  Brethren  of  Jesus 161 

James  the  Lord's  Brother 16£ 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK. 

The  Heart  of  Flesh 171 

The  Rest  of  the  Church 177 

Tabitha 182 

Peter's  Vision 188 

Cornelius 191 

The  Vision  of  Cornelius 196 

Conversion  of  Cornelius 200 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK. 

A  Mistake 203 

Christians 208 

Saul  in  Cilicia 212 

Antioch 215 

Agabus 222 

Herod  Agrippa 226 

James  the  Brother  of  John 232 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK. 

The  Praying  Church 235 

Peter  in  Prison 238 

Death  of  Herod  Agrippa 243 

Bar-Jesus 247 

Sergius  Paulus 253 

"Paul" 257 

Mark 262 

FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK. 

Persecutions 266 

Antioch  in  Pisidia.. 271 

Paul  and  Barnabas  at  Lystra 275 

The  Council 283 

The  Decree 287 

The  Visit  to  Jerusalem 291 

Peter's  Fault 297 


CONTENTS.  IX 

FORTY-NINTH  WEEK. 

Page 

Paul's  Reproof 302 

The  Sharp  Contention 307 

Timothy J*  J 

The  Galatians 31o 

The  Thorn  in  the  Flesh 318 

Luke If 

Philippi 326 

FIFTIETH  WEEK. 

Lydia 331 

The  Pythoness 335 

The  Jailer 342 

Thessalonians  and  Bereans 347 

Athens 353 

Paul  on  Mars'  Hill 358 

Corinth 365 

FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK. 

An  Ignorance 371 

Ephesus 37b 

Three  Years'  Labor *°* 

Silver  Shrines 387 

Eutychus 392 

Forewarnings •  •  •  *>*'' 

The  Tower 402 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK. 

A  Good  Conscience ■ f  08 

Felix ■ 

King  Agrippa *™ 

The  Voyage.    424 

The  Shipwreck ** 

Melita  to  Rome **n 

The  Catacombs , 440 


LIST    OP    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 
Frontispiece  : — Damascus. 

St.  Stephen's  Gate  at  Jerusalem 69 

Modern  Turkish  School 104 

Damascus 129 

House  on  Wall  at  Damascus 148 

Coin  of  the  Emperor  Caius  Caligula 178 

Oriental  Mode  of  Prostration 197 

AntaHyah,  the  ancient  Antioch 220 

Coin  of  Herod  Agrippa 232 

Coin  of  Cyprus,  of  the  Age  of  Sergius  Paulus 257 

Jupiter  as  the  Tutelary  Deity  of  a  City 279 

Mercury,  from  an  Antique  Intaglio 280 

Coin  of  Macedonia  Prima 328 

Coin  of  Philippi 329 

Turkish  Prayer  Hut 331 

Delphic  Tripod,  with  Priest  and  Priestess  of  Apollo 336 

Roman  Lictor  with  Fasces 341 

Athens 354 

The  Acropolis  at  Athens 355 

Corinth 365 

Figure  of  Artemis,  the  Diana  of  Ephesus 380 

Silver  Shrine  of  Diana 388 

Coin  of  Ephesus 392 

Roman  Soldier  and  Prisoner 437 

The  Tullianum 439 

The  Catacombs  at  Rome 441 

Monogram  with  Crown  and  Palm 448 


DAILY  BIBLE    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE    HOLY    GHOST. ACTS  I.  1-15. 

The  last  words  of  our  Lord  to  his  apostles,  before  lie  as- 
oc*ded  into  heaven,  conveyed  a  promise  that,  according  tc 
previous  intimation,  they  should  speedily  be  prepared  and 
qualified,  by  the  operation  and  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
for  the  great  work  that  lay  before  them — "  Ye  shall  receive 
power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you :  and  ye 
shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all 
Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth."  This  involved  a  clear  intimation,  that  the  great 
evangelical  message  was  then  to  be  opened  to  all  nations,  and 
was  no  longer  to  be  limited,  as  it  hitherto  had  been,  to  "  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  It  also  clearly  implies, 
that  much  as  they  had  been  with  Christ,  much  as  they  loved 
Him,  and  had  heard  all  his  words,  and  seen  all  his  miracles, 
they  were  still  unqualified  for  the  work  to  which  they  had  been 
appointed.  Whoever  has  read  the  preceding  volume  of  these 
Readings  will  be  at  no  loss  to  apprehend  this,  and  will  have 
seen  that  this  state  of  unfitness  still  existed,  even  after  the 
resurrection.  The  question  asked  by  them  of  their  Master, 
just  before  his  ascension, — "Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore 
the  kingdom  to  Israel  ?"  shows  that  to  the  last  the  narrow 
Messianic  notions,  to  which  we  have  so  often  referred,  still 
possessed  their  minds  ;  and  there  can  be  little  if  any  doubt 
that,  evera  after  the  ascension,  they  still  looked  for  Christ's 


12  FORTIETH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

speedy  return,  in  great  power  and  glory,  to  commence  hia 
Messianic  reign. 

If  this  be  the  case,  the  usual  view  is  too  narrow  of  the  work 
which  it  remained  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  perform  upon  our 
Lord's  chosen  disciples. 

It  was  the  peculiar  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  then  and 
since,  to  qualify  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  for  their  service, 
and  to  render  their  service  effectual. 

These  qualifications — such  qualifications  as  ministers  now 
need — were  required  also  by  the  apostles.  But  also  under 
their  extended  commission  to  all  nations,  and  as  the  first  com- 
missioned proclaimers  of  the  gospel,  in  the  fulness  of  that 
salvation  which  it  brings,  they  needed  peculiar  and  extraordi 
nary  qualifications,  which  should  in  themselves  avouch  the 
truths  they  declared.  Of  such  qualifications  they  had  al 
ready  received  from  their  Lord  the  gift  of  working  miracles ; 
and  the  most  remarkable  of  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the 
Spirit,  which  it  remained  for  them  to  receive  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  was  that  of  "  tongues"  or  languages,  whereby  they 
were  enabled  at  once  to  speak  and  understand  any  of  the  va- 
rious languages  of  the  nations  to  which  their  mission  was  then 
extended. 

But  this  was  not  all. 

The  Holy  Spirit  was  to  "  guide  them  into  all  truth,"  as 
their  Master  before  He  suffered  had  promised.*  He  was  to 
teach  them  all.  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  their  remem- 
brance that  their  Lord  had  said  unto  them.f  How  crude  their 
views  previously  were ;  how  imperfectly  they  realized  the  full 
scope  of  the  Divine  power  for  the  redemption  of  a  ruined  world, 
we  have  already  seen.  They  knew  less  of  this  than  is  now 
known  even  unto  babes ;  but,  under  the  influence  and  teach- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  would  be  enabled  to  remember 
much  that  their  Lord  had  said,  which,  at  the  time  of  utter- 
ance, had  not  made  any  distinct  impression  on  their  minds ; 
and  not  only  to  remember,  but  to  understand,  that  which, 
when  delivered,  was,  as  repeatedly  intimated  in  the  Gospels, 
*  John  xvi.  13.  \  John  xiv.  26. 


THE    HOLY    GHOST.  13 

difficult  or  altogether  incomprehensible  to  them.  But  when 
all  had  been  fulfilled, — when  Christ  had  suffered,  had  died, 
had  risen,  had  ascended  into  heaven;  and  when  the  Holy- 
Ghost  came  as  the  promised  teacher,  comforter,  and  guide, 
their  understandings  were  opened ;  they  were  enabled  to  con- 
nect the  declarations,  the  acts,  and  the  sufferings  of  Christ  into 
one  harmonious  whole,  and  to  apprehend  the  Gospel  plan  in 
all  its  glorious  and  beautiful  completeness,  in  all  its  boundless 
love,  in  all  its  fulness,  and  its  grace.  There  was  thenceforth 
no  uncertainty  or  obscurity  in  their  views.  They  knew  that 
they  were  taught  of  God ;  they  knew  that  they  had  the  mind 
of  the  Spirit,  who  had  come  to  dwell  in  them,  and  to  abide 
with  them  forever.  There  was  now  only  one  strange  thing  to 
them,  and  this  was,  that  they  should  ever  have  been  so  blind 
in  discerning,  so  .slow  of  heart  in  believing,  all  that  the  proph- 
ets had  spoken  concerning  their  crucified,  their  risen,  and  as- 
cended Lord. 

These  views  opened  to  them  a  far  different  career  from  that 
which  they  had  formerly  contemplated.  They  had  to  cast  to 
'  the  winds  all  their  worldly  dreams  of  being  princes,  lords, 
rulers  of  tribes,  judges,  commanders,  officers  of  high  estate ; 
and  to  become  instead  the  lights  of  the  world,  the  salt  of  the 
earth,  the  proclaimers  of  that  everlasting  Gospel,  whose  blessed- 
ness had  now  become  known  to  themselves,  and  to  the  na- 
tions sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death.  And  their  higher  charge  of  opening  the  gates  of 
mercy  to  mankind,  these  chosen  servants  of  the  Lord  were 
enabled,  under  the  enlightenment  they  had  now  received,  to 
embrace  with  joyfulness,  and  with  entire  devotedness  of  heart ; 
although  they  knew  full  well  that,  in  the  discharge  of  the  ob- 
ligations it  imposed,  none  of  the  earthly  honors  which  men 
covet,  and  which  had  formerly  seemed  glorious  in  their  eyes, 
awaited  them  ;  but  that  they  should  be  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism their  Lord  was  baptized  with,  and  receive  in  full  measure 
the  heritage  of  scorns,  of  revilings,  of  bonds,  of  scourgings, 
and  of  deaths. 

But  none  of  these  things  could  move  them  now.     Hence- 


14  FORTIETH    WEEK MONDAY. 

forth  they  were  content  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  and 
count  them  all  but  dung,  that  they  might  win  Christ  and 
achieve  the  real  honors  of  his  kingdom.  Henceforth  they 
cared  not,  any  more  than  their  Lord,  to  hide  their  face  from 
shame  and  spitting.  Henceforth  they  counted  not  their  own 
lives  dear  unto  them,  but  pursued,  with  resolute  steps  and  un- 
flinching countenances,  the  course  whose  end  was  in  this 
world  death — but  glory  evermore,  and  victorious  palms,  be- 
yond. 


FORTIETH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

A    NEW    APOSTLE. ACTS  I.  15-26. 

The  apostles  had  been  instructed  by  their  Lord  to  remain 
at  Jerusalem  until  they  should  receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  This 
took  place  ten  days  after  the  ascension.  We  are  informed 
that,  during  this  time  of  waiting  for  the  great  blessing  which 
they  knew  they  were  to  expect,  they  employed  their  time  chiefly 
in  daily  attendance  at  the  temple,  where  their  presence  in  a 
body  as  the  known  followers  of  the  crucified  Jesus,  gave  evi- 
dence to  his  enemies  that  his  party  still  lived ;  and  enabled 
them  to  satisfy  the  many  inquirers  who,  doubtless,  applied  to 
them  for  information  respecting  the  extraordinary  circum- 
stances of  which  they  had  been  witnesses,  about  which  there 
must  have  been  many  and  contradictory  reports  current 
through  the  city.  The  rest  of  the  time  they  spent  mostly  to- 
gether in  prayer,  and  supplication,  and  godly  discourse,  in  a 
large  upper  chamber  of  the  house  which  some  of  them  occu- 
pied. Nor  were  they  alone,  it  seems,  in  this ;  for  mention  is 
made  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  disciples  and  "  the  women/' 
Who  these  women  were  is  not  particularly  stated,  "  Mary,  the 
mother  of  Jesus,"  being  the  only  one  who  is  named.  This  is 
the  last  mention  of  her  in  Scripture ;  and  from  it  we  learn  that 
she  had  now  cast  in  her  lot  with  the  apostles,  to  the  care  of 
one  of  whom  she  had  been  particularly  entrusted,  and  seems 


A    NEW    APOSTLE.  15 

to  have  thenceforth  had  no  other  house  than  his.  It  is  not 
difficult,  however,  to  apprehend  that  the  other  women  were 
pre-eminently  those  who  had  been  the  first  witnesses  of  the 
Lord's  resurrection — Mary  Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of 
James  and  Joses,  and  Salome  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  sons ; 
to  these  we  must  probably  add  the  other  women  who  had 
come  from  Galilee,  Joanna  and  Susanna.  We  are  unwilling 
to  suppose  that  the  sisters  of  Lazarus  were  not  among  them, 
as  their  brother  doubtless  was  among  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  male  disciples.  There  were  probably  others  of  whose 
names  we  are  uninformed.  Most  of  those  whom  we  do  know 
were  relatives  of  the  apostles  or  of  Jesus  himself;  and  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  some  of  the  women  thus  generally  indicated 
were  wives  of  the  apostles.  "We  know  that  Peter  was  mar- 
ried ;  and  that  his  wife  went  about  with  him  •*  and  this  may 
have  been  the  case  with  some  of  the  other  apostles,  as  it  was 
a  very  rare  circumstance  among  the  Jews  for  a  man  to  pass 
beyond  his  youth  unmarried. 

The  only  transaction  recorded  as  having  taken  place  during 
these  ten  days,  was  the  election  of  another  apostle  to  fill  up 
the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  treachery  and  death  of  Judas. 
It  devolved  on  Peter  to  explain  this  matter  to  the  assembled 
brethren ;  and  he  took  occasion  to  recite  briefly  the  circum- 
stances by  which  this  vacancy  had  been  created.  The  occa- 
sion suits  us  well  for  the  same  retrospection. 

When  Judas  perceived  the  issue  of  his  treachery  in  the 
condemnation  of  Jesus  by  the  Sanhedrim,  his  conscience  was 
awakened  to  the  sense  of  the  atrocity  of  the  crime  he  had 
committed,  and,  goaded  by  its  sharp  stings,  his  first  impulse 
was  to  cast  from  him  with  abhorrence,  as  an  unclean  thing, 
the  bright  silver  which  had  been  the  fruit,  as  it  had  been  in 
some  measure  at  least  the  incitement,  of  his  sin.  The  fact 
that  his  first  movement,  under  this  mental  torture,  was  to  cast 
away  the  bribe  he  had  won  so  dearly,  seems  to  denote  very 
significantly  that  the  possession  of  this  had  been  his  strongest 
inducement,  and  so  far  to  corroborate  the  intimations  of  the 
*  Matt.  viii.  14 ;  1  Cor.  ix.  5. 


16  FORTIETH    WEEK MONDAY. 

evangelists  that  covetousness  was  the  sin  that  ruined  him. 
He  hastened  to  the  temple,  and  throwing  down  the  money 
before  the  priests  and  elders,  he  cried, — "  I  have  sinned  in  that 
I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood !"  They  answered  him 
coldly,  that  this  was  his  concern,  not  theirs.  But  he  heeded 
them  not ;  and,  lashed  on  by  the  scourging  vengeance  within, 
he  hastened  to  a  self-inflicted  felon's  death.  "  He  went  and 
hanged  himself ;"  and  with  such  angry  vehemence  did  he  cast 
himself  off,  that  the  rope  broke,  and  he  fell  down  headlong 
with  such  force,  that  he  lay  dead  upon  the  ground,  a  foul, 
crushed,  and  disfigured  mass. 

Some  have  concluded,  from  this  proceeding  on  the  part  of 
Judas,  as  already  intimated,  that,  when  he  betrayed  his  Mas- 
ter, he  did  not  contemplate  the  possibility  of  His  being  con- 
demned to  death.  It  may  be  so.  It  is  possible  that  he  deceived 
his  own  heart  with  the  show  of  good  intentions.  But  if  this 
is  not  the  impression  the  evangelists  themselves  received  of  his 
character  and  conduct — and  we  think  that  it  is  not — the  ex- 
planation stands  on  very  precarious  ground.  Nor  is  his  late 
remorse  at  all  adverse  to  that  impression ;  for  how  often  do  we 
not  witness,  in  the  annals  of  crime,  a  conscience-stricken  horror 
fall  upon  the  criminal  on  the  completion  of  the  deed,  which 
in  the  distance  he  had  planned  deliberately,  and  contemplated 
without  dismay. 

In  supplying  the  deficiency  in  the  number  of  the  apostles 
caused  by  the  downfall  of  Judas,  Peter  stated  the  qualifications 
to  be,  that  he  should  be  one  who  had  been  their  constant  as- 
sociate from  the  commencement  of  the  Lord's  ministry  until 
his  ascension,  and  thus  qualified  to  be  a  witness  of  all  his  say- 
ings and  deeds — and  especially  of  his  resurrection.  This  de- 
scription seems  to  indicate  that  the  selection  was  to  be  made 
from  the  seventy  disciples :  for  it  would  obviously  appear  that 
our  Lord's  previous  selection  of  these  from  the  general  body 
of  the  disciples  for  evangelical  service,  was  in  itself  a  qualifi- 
cation for  the  apostleship  which  could  not  be  advanced  by  the 
other  disciples.  Among  the  number  there  were  two  whose 
claims  from  character  and  standing  were  so  conspicuous,  that 


A    NEW    APOSTLE.  IV 

the  apostles  felt  unable  to  determine  which  of  them  was  enti- 
tled to  preference,  or  were  perhaps  divided  in  their  judgment 
concerning  them :  one  of  these  was  Matthias,  and  the  other 
Joseph  surnamed  Barsabas.  They,  therefore,  referred  the  de- 
cision to  the  Lord  by  the  lot,  after  solemn  prayer,  that  He 
would  be  pleased  thus  to  indicate  the  person  He  had  chosen. 
The  lot  fell  upon  Matthias,  who  was  thenceforth  reckoned 
among  the  apostles.  It  is  thought  by  some  that  it  was  not 
merely  the  difficulty  of  choice  between  Matthias  and  Joseph 
that  induced  the  apostles  to  resort  in  this  case  to  the  lot ;  but 
from  an  unwillingness  to  appoint  a  new  apostle  upon  their  own 
authority  ;  for,  seeing  that  all  the  others  had  been  specially 
appointed  by  Jesus  himself,  an  apostle  so  appointed  might 
have  seemed  to  occupy  an  inferior  position  to  them.  The 
text,  however,  favors  the  former  opinion,  seeing  that  they  sup- 
plicated the  Lord  to  show  "  which  of  these  two"  He  had 
chosen ;  indicating  that  had  there  been  but  one,  they,  in  de- 
pendence on  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  would  not  have 
hesitated  to  act  in  this  case.  Indeed,  the  ground  for  this 
reference  to  the  lot  could  not  have  existed,  had  there  not  been 
two  persons  before  them  ;  unless,  indeed,  they  had  in  that  case 
proposed  to  have  asked  by  lot  whether  or  not  (yea  or  nay)  the 
Lord  approved  of  the  person  they  had  nominated.  Still  the 
special  ground  which  may  have  existed  for  this  reference  to  the 
lot  is  very  important ;  and  receives  force  and  illustration  from 
the  course  taken  by  St.  Paul  to  insist  that  his  call  to  the  apos- 
tleship  was  neither  of  men  nor  by  men,  but  from  the  Lord 
himself,  though  it  came  later  in  time  than  any  of  the  others. 
This  speciality,  also,  removes  the  case  from  being  used  as  a 
precedent  for  reference  to  the  lot. 

Of  Matthias,  thus  elected  to  the  apostleship,  no  further 
record  exists  in  Scripture ;  but  there  is  an  uncertain  tradition 
that,  after  remaining  some  time  in  Judea,  he  carried  the  Gos- 
pel into  the  interior  of  Asia,  where  he  suffered  death  from  the 
hands  of  a  barbarous  people. 


18  FORTIETH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

FORTIETH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

PENTECOST. ACTS    II.  1-3. 

We  formerly  alluded  to  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  and  de- 
scribed it  as  the  feast  which  was,  for  various  reasons,  more  than 
any  other,  frequented  by  Jews  from  foreign  parts.*  It  seems, 
therefore,  probable  that  the  wisdom  of  God  deferred  for  ten 
days  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  the  striking  manifestation 
which  has  rendered  this  Jewish  festival  memorable  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  Christian  church,  in  order  that  it  might  occur  at  a 
time  when  Jerusalem  was  rilled  with,  strangers,  who  would 
bear  back  the  intelligence  of  it,  and  of  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  it,  to  their  distant  homes  :  thus  preparing  the  way 
for  the  subsequent  appearance  and  ministrations  of  the  apos- 
tles in  those  parts.  Indeed,  many  returned  home  from  this 
feast  as  converts  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  were  thereby 
ready  in  all  quarters  to  receive  the  preachers  of  that  doctrine 
with  gladness  when  they  came  among  them.  It  is  impossible 
to  estimate  too  highly  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  which, 
through  the  Jews  present  at  the  feast,  and  afterwards  return- 
ing to  the  countries  of  their  sojourning,  enabled  the  seed  of 
the  Gospel  to  be  sown  broadcast  into  all  lands,  yielding  in  the 
end  abundant  and  glorious  fruits.  This,  therefore,  seems  to 
supply  the  motive — and  certainly  a  most  adequate  one — for 
the  delay  of  the  ardently  expected  boon. 

The  feast  of  Pentecost  is  not  known  by  that  name  in  the 
Old  Testament,  being  a  Greek  term  for  denoting  the  festival 
as  being  celebrated  on  the  fiftieth  day  from  the  feast  of  Un- 
leavened Bread  or  the  Passover.  It  was  a  festival  of  thanks- 
giving for  the  completion  of  the  harvest,  which  commenced 
immediately  after  the  Passover.  It  is  hence  called  in  the  Old 
Testament  the  Feast  of  Harvest;  and  it  was  also  designed  the 
Feast  of  Weeks,  because  it  was  seven  weeks,  or,  according  to 
the  Hebrew  mode  of  expression,  "  a  week  of  weeks,"  from  the 
*  Evening  Series  •  Thirty-First  Week — Saturday. 


PENTECOST.  19 

first  day  of  the  Passover.  The  primary  object  of  the  festival 
was  undoubtedly  to  render  thanks  to  the  Lord  for  the  bless- 
ings of  the  season ;  and  its  first  fruits  were  then  rendered  as 
an  offering  to  Him  in  a  basket,  with  the  words  given  in  Deut. 
ixvi.  5-9,  beginning,  "  A  Syrian  ready  to  perish  was  my  father  ; 
and  he  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  sojourned  there  with  a  few, 
and  became  there  a  nation,  great,  mighty,  and  populous ;" 
and  proceeding  to  recite  how  they  were  afflicted  in  that  coun- 
try, and  how  the  Lord,  "with  great  terribleness,"  delivered 
them  therefrom ;  "  And  He  hath  brought  us  into  this  place, 
and  hath  given  us  this  land,  even  a  land  that  floweth  with 
milk  and  honey :  and  now,  behold,  I  have  brought  the  first 
fruits  of  the  land  which  Thou,  0  Lord,  hast  given  me."  It 
was  hence  also  called  the  Feast  of  First  Fruits. 

There  is  no  trace  in  Scripture  that  this  feast  was  also  de- 
signed, at  least  in  part,  to  commemorate  the  giving  of  the  law 
from  Mount  Sinai ;  but  this  impression  was  in  later  times  en- 
tertained, and  has  acquired  especial  prominence  since  the  Jews 
have  been  cast  forth  from  their  own  "  good  land ;"  and,  in  all 
the  different  countries  of  their  sojourning,  have  ceased  to  be 
an  agricultural  people,  or  to  take  interest  in  agricultural 
affairs. 

This  was  one  of  the  three  great  yearly  festivals,  which  all 
the  adult  males  were,  in  strictness,  required  to  attend  at  the 
place  of  the  Lord's  altar.  In  most  of  the  places  where  it  is 
mentioned,  under  any  of  its  various  names,  it  might  seem  to 
be  a  festival  of  only  a  day ;  but  it  was  in  reality  of  a  week's 
duration,  although  only  the  first  day  was  distinguished  by  the 
religious  solemnities  described  in  the  books  of  the  Law. 

It  was  when  this  first  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come,  that 
the  apostles  (and  probably  the  disciples)  were  assembled  at 
their  usual  place  of  meeting,  when  the  sound  from  heaven,  as 
of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  filled  all  the  house  where  they  were 
sitting.  It  does  not  seem  that  there  was  actually  any  wind, 
but  only  the  sound  of  it,  which  sound  pervaded  all  parts  of 
the  house.  This  wind,  or  sound  of  wind,  was  an  appropriate 
emblem  of  the  descent  and  ingress  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 


20  FORTIETH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

is  frequently  designated  as  a  breath  or  a  wind.  Indeed,  in 
the  Old  Testament  the  proper  term  for  spirit  is  a  word  which 
equally  denotes  these  two  things.  It  was  therefore  of  the  na- 
ture of  a  sign  to  them  of  what  was  to  take  place,  and  which 
they  were  expecting,  though  they  knew  not  the  form  of  the 
manifestation.  Presently  divers  masses  of  lambent  flame  ap- 
peared moving  through  the  place,  which  settled  upon  their 
heads  in  the  shape  of  "  tongues  of  fire," — called  tongues,  from 
the  general  resemblance,  both  in  shape  and  movement,  of  a 
lambent  flame  to  that  of  a  tongue.  Thus  was  fulfilled  the 
prediction  that  they  should  be  "baptised  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire" — (Matt.  iii.  11) — and  the  frequency  with  which 
the  manifestations  of  the  Divine  presence  are  connected  in  the 
Old  Testament  with  the  appearance  of  fire,  rendered  this  a 
peculiarly  appropriate  and  intelligible  visible  symbol  of  the 
descent  upon  them  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  They  had  thus  both 
audible  and  visible  evidence  of  the  reality  of  this  manifesta- 
tion— audible  in  "  the  sound  of  the  rushing  mighty  wind ;" 
visible  in  "  the  tongues  of  fire."  That  these  tongues  of  fire, 
or  rather  of  flame,  should  settle  upon  each  of  the  subjects  of 
this  grace,  must  have  been  more  satisfactory  than  a  single 
body  of  flame  diffused  over  the  heads  of  all,  as  there  might 
then  have  arisen  a  question,  whether  there  might  not  be  some 
who  had  not  received  it ;  but  all  misconception  was  prevented 
by  every  one  being  marked  out  individually  by  this  fiery  sign. 
And  if  there  were  some  present  who  did  not  receive  this  power 
from  on  high,  it  was  the  more  essential  that  those  who  did 
receive  it,  should  be  thus  manifestly  distinguished.  On  this 
point  there  is  some  difficulty.  The  general  impression  seems 
to  be,  that  the  apostles  only  were  present,  and  that  they  alone 
received  this  sign,  and  the  gifts  which  followed.  But  we  have 
supposed  it  probable  that  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  disci- 
ples were  also  present  with  the  apostles.  In  that  supposition 
the  question  arises,  Did  they  also  receive  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
It  is  impossible  to  be  very  positive  on  this  point ;  but  from 
the  freedom  with  which  we  fiud  the  apostles  at  all  subsequent 
periods  imparting  (as  they  were  authorized  to  do)  the  gifte 


THE    GIFT    OF   TONGUES.  21 

they  on  this  occasion  received,  to  others  who  were  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  it  seems  that  these  gifts  were  not  by  any  means 
intended  to  be  peculiar  to  the  apostles,  and  suggests  the  prob- 
ability that  the  disciples  then  present,  were  also  subject  to  this 
Divine  influence.  And  this  seems  to  be  corroborated  by  the 
large  terms  employed  in  describing  the  event,  especially  in 
Peter's  application  to  it  of  the  prophecy  of  Joel  (Acts  ii.  16-18), 
the  expressions  in  which  are  very  full  and  extensive. 


FORTIETH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE    GIFT    OF   TONGUES. ACTS  II.  4-47. 

The  "  tongues  of  fire"  which  rested  on  the  heads  of  the 
apostles  afforded  no  vain  show.  It  was  a  sign,  and  the  fact 
indicated  by  that  sign  was  at  once  known  to  be  a  reality  by 
that  which  at  the  same  moment  of  time  took  place  within 
them.  "They  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost;"  by  which 
term  the  sacred  historian  clearly  means  to  understand  that 
they  then  received  in  full  measure  all  the  blessings  from  on 
high,  through  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  their  Master  had  so 
often  promised  to  them.  They  were  at  once  enlightened,  in- 
structed, cheered,  exalted,  inspired.  This  was  so  well  known 
to  have  been  expected,  and  to  have  been  received,  that  the  his- 
storian  does  not  dwell  upon  the  fact,  but  passes  on  to  specify 
a  most  extraordinary  endowment,  which,  from  its  nature,  ex- 
cited great  amazement,  and  for  which  expectation  had  not  even 
in  the  evangelical  circle  been  distinctly  prepared.  They  "  be- 
gan to  speak  with  other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  ut- 
terance." That  is  to  say,  they  began  to  preach  the  gospel  in 
languages  they  had  not  previously  known,  but  the  mastery  of 
which  was  at  once  given  to  them.  Much  has  been  said  to 
divest  this  of  a  miraculous  character,  under  various  explana- 
tions. But  it  is  all  in  vain.  No  other  hypothesis  will  agree 
with  what  ensued,  or  meet  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 


22  FORTIETH    WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

It  was  necessary  that  these  men — all  belonging  to  one  small 
nation,  and  speaking  one  of  the  least  diffused  of  tongues — ■ 
should,  in  receiving  the  charge  to  preach  the  gospel  in  all 
lands,  know  the  languages  of  the  nations  among  whom  they 
we-e  to  labor.  And  it  was  requisite  that  they  should  be  either 
inspired  with  this  knowledge,  and  thereby  be  qualified  for  im- 
mediate work ;  or  that  they  should  sit  down  to  learn  those 
languages,  and  labor  at  this  task  many  weary  years,  during 
which  the  gospel  would  remain  unpreached.  There  was  there- 
fore every  reason  to  expect  from  antecedent  probability,  that 
the  Lord  would  in  this  age  of  qualifying  and  attesting  mira- 
cles, remove  this  discouragement  from  the  path  of  his  servants 
in  the  discharge  of  that  duty  to  which  they  were  called.  It 
was  the  Lord's  purpose  that  his  word  should  at  once  have  free 
course  and  be  glorified  among  the  nations  through  their  min- 
istration ;  and  how  this  was  to  be  brought  to  pass,  while  the 
appointed  messengers  were  shut  up  in  the  narrow  dumbness 
of  one  tongue,  and  mostly  with  habits  of  life  unused  to  the 
acquisition  of  languages  by  the  common  process,  it  is  hard  to 
see.  God  had  undertaken  to  supply  all  their  needs,  and  to 
afford  them  every  requisite  qualification  for  the  work  to  which 
they  were  called.  There  could  be  for  them  no  need  more 
urgent,  no  qualication  more  important,  than  that  they  should 
be  enabled  to  declare  to  the  nations  in  their  own  languages, 
the  wonderful  works  of  God ;  and  therefore,  in  "  the  gift  of 
tongues,"  this  need  was  supplied,  this  qualification  was 
furnished. 

Besides,  the  reality  of  this  marvellous  endowment  was  at 
once,  and  on  the  spot,  subjected  to  test  and  recognition. 
There  were  then  present  at  the  feast  Jews  from  all  parts,  to 
most  of  whom  foreign  tongues  were  native,  just  as  English,  or 
French,  or  German,  is  native  to  Jews  born  in  those  countries. 
The  regions  from  which  they  principally  came  are  specified, 
and  these  extend  from  the  Euxine  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  and  the  coast 
of  Africa.  Many  of  these,  together  with  the  native  Jews, 
flocked  to  the  spot,  as  soon  as  the  report  of  this  marvellous 


THE    GIFT    OF    TONGUES. 


transaction  had  spread  into  the  city.  To  the  latter,  who  knew 
not  what  was  said,  nor  recognized  the  words  as  those  of  known 
languages,  all  this  seemed  idle  babble,  and  they  derided  the 
speakers  as  men  drunk  with  wine.  This  imputation  was 
warmly  repelled  by  Peter,  who  pointed  to  the  earliness  of  the 
hour  (nine  o'clock)  as  an  adequate  disproof.  And  such  it  was. 
For,  although  it  is  certainly  possible  for  men  to  get  drunk  be- 
fore that  hour,  morning  drunkenness  is  not  anywhere  usual, 
and  it  found  a  peculiar  prevention  in  Palestine,  from  the  cus- 
tom of  abstaining  from  meat  or  drink  until  that  very  hour, 
when  the  morning  sacrifice  was  offered.  But  the  strangers 
were  astonished,  as  they  recognized  these  several  languages, 
and  said  one  to  another,  "  Behold,  are  not  all  these  who  speak 
Galileans  ?  And  how  hear  we  every  man  in  our  own  tongue, 
wherever  we  were  born ;  we  do  hear  them  speak  in  our  own 
tongues  the  wonderful  works  of  God  ?" 

Perceiving  their  perplexity,  the  apostles  stood  up,  and  Peter, 
after  vindicating  them  from  the  slander  just  indicated,  pro- 
ceeded to  explain  the  real  nature  of  the  transaction,  and,  in  a 
most  noble  sermon,  to  declare  the  great  doctrine  of  Christ 
crucified  for  their  sins,  and  raised  again  for  their  justification. 
This  was  the  first  evangelical  sermon,  and  it  was  gloriously 
acknowledged  by  the  Holy  Spirit  under  whose  influence  it  was 
delivered ;  for  they  that  heard  it  were  "  pricked  in  their  heart," 
and  cried  to  the  speaker,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  apostles, 
"  What  shall  we  do  i"  The  answer  was  ready :  that  they 
should  repent  and  be  baptised  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
for  the  remission  of  sins — thereby  attesting  their  belief  in  Him 
as  their  Messiah  and  Redeemer,  and  expressing  their  purpose 
of  heart  to  become  his  followers  and  disciples.  With  "  many 
more  words"  than  those  recorded,  did  the  earnest  apostle  press 
these  doctrines  upon  his  hearers,  urging  them  to  save  them- 
selves "  from  this  untoward  generation."  Moved  by  the  Spirit, 
hundreds — thousands — received  these  words  into  their  hearts, 
and  that  day  there  were  added  to  the  church  by  baptism  no 
fewer  than  three  thousand  souls.  This  was  a  glorious  triumph, 
well  suited  to  encourage  the  apostles  in  the  labors  that  lay  be- 


24  FORTIETH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

fore  them ;  for  it  showed  them  that  there  was  no  limit  to  their 
holy  conquests,  seeing  that  they  were  to  be  won,  "  Not  by 
might,  not  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Bosts !" 

It  is  observable  that  we  have  here  another  instance  in  which 
the  apostles  are  recognized  as  Galileans  by  their  dialect.  The 
fact  of  such  a  plainly  distinguishable  provincial  dialect,  is  not 
at  all  strange.  Every  country  affords  examples  of  this,  and 
perhaps  none  more  so  than  our  own.  We  know  from  various 
authorities  that  the  dialect  of  Galilee  was  reckoned  very  bar- 
barous and  corrupt  by  the  people  of  Judea.  This  dialect 
seems  to  have  been  characterized  by  a  sort  of  vague  or  indis- 
tinct pronunciation  of  particular  letters,  and  in  the  mispronun- 
ciation, confusion,  or  suppression  of  certain  other  letters,  espe- 
cially the  gutturals.  Thus  the  nice  ear  of  a  metropolitan  Jew 
was  often  at  fault  with  regard  to  the  meaning  of  the  words ; 
and,  out  of  their  own  province,  the  Galileans  were  often  un- 
derstood to  say  something  very  different  from  what  they  meant 
to  express.  Many  curious  instances  of  this  may  be  collected 
from  the  rabbinical  writings.  Two  may  suffice.  A  Galilean 
woman  said,  "  Whose  is  this  lamb  ?"  but  she  pronounced  the 
first  letter  of  the  word  for  "  lamb"  (immar)  so  vaguely,  that 
the  hearers  could  not  determine  whether  she  meant  a  lamb, 
an  ass  (chamor),  wine  (chamar),  or  wool  (amar).  Another 
woman,  saying  to  her  neighbor,  "  Come,  I  will  feed  you  with 
milk"  (tai  doclic  chalaba),  pronounced  the  two  last  words  in 
such  a  manner  (toclic  labe)  that  they  might  be  heard  as  a 
curse,  "  Let  a  lion  devour  thee." 

That  so  many  foreign  Jews  heard  the  apostles  speak  in 
their  own  tongues,  implies  that  they  severally  spoke  different 
tongues ;  and  not  that  all  tongues  were  at  once  known  to 
and  spoken  by  all  who  received  this  gift.  To  each  was  given 
the  power  of  speaking  those  tongues  he  would  have  occasion 
to  use  in  the  course  of  his  ministrations ;  and  possibly  addi 
tional  languages  were  given  when  the  occasion  for  their  use 
arose.  If  a  stranger  should  come  to  a  place  manifestly  unable 
to  speak  its  language,  and  suddenly  acquire  power   to  preach 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    GATE.  25 

in  Jiat  language  with  force  and  ease — this  would  be  a  sign 
to  that  people,  almost  as  signal  as  that  by  which  the  strangers 
at  Jerusalem  were  on  this  occasion  so  strongly  impressed. 
That  there  were  differences  in  this  respect  is  clear,  from  the 
declaration  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  that  he  spoke  with 
tongues  more  than  they  all  (1  Cor.  xiv.  18) ;  and  this  fact 
corroborates  the  view  we  have  stated,  for  the  missionary  trav- 
els of  this  apostle  were  most  extensive,  and  he  had  need  of 
many  languages,  that  he  might  be  able  to  preach  the  gospel 
in  the  various  lands  to  which  he  went. 


FORTIETH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  GATE ACTS  III.  1,  2. 

There  were  many  gates  to  the  temple.  Those  in  the  ex- 
tent of  the  outer  wall  were  surrounded  by  gate-houses  thirty 
cubits  high,  and  therefore  rising  five  cubits  beyond  the  wall 
itself,  which  was  twenty-five  cubits  high.  The  breadth  of 
these  gate-houses  was  half  the  height;  and  the  entrance  itself 
was  twenty  cubits  high,  and  ten  broad.  These  outer  gates 
were  of  timber,  plated  with  brass,  and  led  into  the  spacious 
court  called  the  Court  of  the  Oentiles.  No  particular  sanctity 
was  attached  to  this  court,  and  hence  Gentiles  were  freely  ad- 
mitted, mendicants  were  allowed  to  beg,  and  dealers  to  buy 
and  sell.  A  person  was  not  considered  properly  to  enter  "  the 
Temple,"  in  the  more  definite  sense,  until  he  had  passed  this 
court,  and  entered  into  the  interior  enclosure.  This  also  had 
a  wall,  with  gate-houses  and  gates,  covered,  not  with  brass 
but  with  gold  and  silver,  Jid  leading  into  the  Court  of  the 
Women,  which  (notwithstanding  its  name)  was  the  common 
place  for  worshippers,  both  men  and  women.  Beyond  this, 
and  above  it — for  it  was  over  an  ascending  site,  crowned  by 
the  Holy  House — lay  the  Court  of  the  Priests,  wherein  the 
sacred  services  were  celebrated.     This  had  the  same  wall  of 

VOL.  IV.  *2 


26  FORTIETH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

general  enclosure  with  the  Glourt  of  the  Gentiles,  but  was  sepa 
rated  from  it  by  a  cross  wall,  which  was  pierced  by  one  large 
and  ponderous  gate,  exactly  fronting  that  of  the  Holy  House. 
This  is  the  general  description.  It  remains  to  state,  that  the 
Holy  House  itself  fronted  the  east,  and  that  consequently  the 
principal  entrance,  in  each  of  the  successive  walls,  was  on  the 
same  side.  On  that  side  there  was  but  one  gate  to  either  of 
the  courts;  and  these  standing  directly  opposite  the  Holy 
House,  were  deemed  entitled  to  particular  distinction  from  the 
others,  in  their  materials,  proportions  and  ornaments. 

The  gate  on  this  side,  in  the  outer  enclosure,  had,  however, 
the  singular  distinction  of  having  the  least  elevated  gate-house, 
the  upper  part  rising  not  more  than  six  cubits  above  the  en- 
try, whereas  the  others  rose  ten  cubits ;  and,  instead  of  being 
like  the  others,  five  cubits  higher  than  the  wall,  this  was  no 
more  than  one  cubit.  There  was  a  reason  for  this.  The  red 
heifer  directed  by  the  Law  to  be  burned  "  without  the  camp," 
in  order  that  "  the  water  of  purification  "  might  be  prepared 
from  its  ashes,  was,  after  the  foundation  of  the  temple  at  Je- 
rusalem, burned  without  the  city,  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives ; 
and  as  it  was  conceived  that  the  blood  of  the  heifer  Avas  to 
be  sprinkled  before,  or  in  presence  of,  the  temple,  this  gate 
was  kept  low,  because  if  it  had  been  as  high  as  the  others, 
the  clear  view  of  the  temple  by  the  officiating  priest  would 
have  been  intercepted.  In  another  respect,  however,  this  gate, 
though  low,  was  not  undistinguished.  It  was  called  "  the 
Gate  of  Shashan,"  because  the  city  or  palace  of  Shushan  (mem- 
orable in  the  history  of  the  captivity)  was  represented  there- 
on ;  or,  according  to  other  accounts,  was  depicted  in  one  of 
the  side-chambers  of  the  gate-house.  This  was,  as  some  say, 
by  order  of  the  Persian  government,  to  keep  the  Jews  in  re- 
membrance of  their  allegiance  to  the  power  reigning  in  Shu- 
shan, or,  as  others  state,  as  a  voluntary  memorial  of  the  cap- 
tivity. The  nature  of  the  representation  may  be  guessed, 
from  the  mode  in  which  towns  and  palaces  are  represented  in 
the  Assyrian  sculptures,  of  which  some  specimens  were  given 
in  the  second  volume  of  our  Evening  Series, 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    GATE.  27 

The  gate  opposite  this,  across  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
leading  into  the  Court  of  the  Women,  being  the  front  and 
tnerefore  the  most  distinguished  of  the  entrances  into  what 
was  properly  regarded  as  the  temple,  was  considered  the  most 
splendid  of  all  the  gates.  In  comparison  with  the  gate  Shushan, 
this  gate  "was  goodly  and  lofty  (as  Lightfoot  observes),  and 
stood  bravely  mounted  upon  the  far  higher  ground  ;"  but  was 
mainly  distinguished  by  its  materials.  The  other  gates  in  this 
enclosure  were  of  wood  plated  with  gold  and  silver — the  posts 
and  lintels,  as  we  apprehend,  of  silver,  and  the  valves  of  gold  ; 
but  this  gate  was  wholly  of  "  Corinthian  brass,  more  precious 
than  gold."  So  says  Josephus  ;  and  as  it  was  doubtless  of  the 
best  kind  of  Corinthian  brass,  other  ancient  writers  support 
his  testimony  to  its  extreme  costliness.  "This  Corinthian 
brass"  was  of  several  varieties  of  different  values  :  one  which 
took  a  golden  hue  from  the  quantity  of  gold ;  one  of  paler 
hue  from  the  predominance  of  silver :  one  wherein  the  com- 
ponent metals,  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  tin,  were  combined  in 
equal  proportions.  The  use  of  this  metal  was  probably  rare 
in  a  country  which  did  not  tolerate  statuary,  and  hence  this 
gate  would  attract,  from  the  unusualness,  special  attention  and 
admiration. 

The  gate  opposite  to  this,  leading  directly  into  the  court 
where  the  temple  stood,  was  also  of  bronze,  probably  of  a  dif- 
ferent quality,  and  seemingly  not  Corinthian  bronze ;  and  it 
seems  to  have  farther  differed  from  tho  other  in  that  it  was 
not  wholly  of  bronze,  but  had  its  posts  and  lintel  of,  or  over- 
laid with  silver.  This  gate  was,  however,  distinguished  from 
all  others  by  its  large  proportions,  and  the  immense  weight 
of  its  valves.  It  is  said  that  it  required  the  strength  of 
twenty  men  to  close  it ;  and  of  it  this  wonder  is  recorded,  that 
notwithstanding  the  force  thus  required  to  shut  it,  and  being 
besides  firmly  bolted  and  barred,  it  one  night  flew  open  of  its 
own  accord.  This  is  declared  to  have  been  forty  years  before 
the  destruction  of  the  city ;  and  as  that  date  coincides  with 
the  death  of  our  Lord,  it  is  open  to  a  suggestion  that  this  in- 
cident (if  correctly  reported)  took  place  at  the  same  time  that 


28  FORTIETH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent,  and  an  earthquake  shook  the 
city. 

Now  of  these  three  gates,  -which  was  "  the  Beautiful  Gate," 
mentioned  in  Acts  iii.  2,  where  we  read  that  "  a  certain  man, 
lame  from  his  mother's  womb,  was  carried,  whom  they  laid 
daily  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  to  ask  alms  of  them  that  en- 
tered into  the  temple  ?" 

We  have  no  doubt  that,  judging  from  the  descriptions  which 
we  have  given,  any  one  would  declare  for  the  second  or 
Corinthian  gate,  which  certainly  was  regarded  by  those  who 
lived  while  the  temple  was  standing,  as  the  most  magnificent 
of  them.  "We  are  ourselves  of  this  opinion.  There  is,  how- 
ever, probably  from  imperfect  information  respecting  these 
gates,  a  general  impression  that  the  outer  gate  was  meant ; 
founded  perhaps  on  the  notion  that  beggars  were  not  likely  to 
be  admitted  into  the  temple  court,  and  that  it  is  expressly  said 
that  this  beggar  was  placed  there  to  ask  alms  of  those  "  that 
entered  in  at  the  temple."  But  we  have  shown  that  no  par- 
ticular sanctity  was  attached  to  the  other  court,  and  that  the 
second  gate  was  properly  the  entrance  into  the  temple.  There 
was  nothing  to  prevent  a  beggar  from  being  stationed  there ; 
and  if  he  could  be  placed  there,  he  was  more  likely  to  go 
there  than  to  remain  at  the  outer  gate.  These  grounds  of 
doubt  cannot  therefore  stand  ;  and  we  are  at  liberty  to  suppose 
that  the  gate  really  most  beautiful  was  the  one  distinguished 
as  the  Beautiful  Gate. 

The  object  of  stationing  beggars,  especially  maimed  beg- 
gars, at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  was  evidently  in  the  calcula- 
tion that  the  feelings  of  those  who  were  proceeding  to,  or  had 
been  engaged  in,  an  act  of  solemn  worship,  would  be  more 
strongly  inclined  to  charity  and  benevolence  than  at  ordinary 
times.  It  is  in  the  same  calculation  that  at  the  present  day 
the  gates  of  the  great  continental  churches,  as  well  as  the  ap- 
proaches to  Mohammedan  mosques,  are  thronged  with  beggars 
at  the  hours  of  prayer.  We  know  also  that  the  Pharisees  and 
others  in  those  days  bestowed  much  alms  in  the  most  public 
places,  that  their  ostentatious  charity  might  "  be  seen  of  men  f 


THE    LAME    BEGGAR.  29 

and  the  perception  of  this  weakness  in  a  class  of  people  so 
wealthy,  had  doubtless  considerable  influence  in  causing  the 
beggars  of  Jerusalem  to  resort  in  large  numbers  to  places  so 
public,  and  through  which  the  Pharisees  were  so  continually 
passing  as  the  gates  of  the  temple — these  people  being  more 
constant  than  others  in  their  attendance  at  the  sacred  courts. 


FORTIETH  WEEK-^FRIDAY. 

THE    LAME    BEGGAR. ACTS    III.  3-IV.  31. 

We  have  already  been  told  in  general,  that  "  many  signs 
and  wonders  were  done  by  the  hands  of  the  apostles ;"  and  a 
particular  instance  is  now  given,  not  perhaps  as  the  most 
remarkable  in  itself,  but  as  one  from  which  important  conse- 
quences resulted.  This  was  the  case  of  that  lame  man  whom 
we  yesterday  saw  lying  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  the  temple ; 
a  case  notable  from  its  undeniably  miraculous  character,  and 
from  the  great  notoriety  which  the  circumstances  involved. 
If  the  man's  calamity  had  been  the  result  of  casuality  or  dis- 
ease, it  might  have  seemed  more  easily  cured;  but  it  was 
known  to  every  one  that  this  man  had  been  lame  from  the 
womb — that  he  never  had  walked.  The  mere  fact  that  he 
was  constantly  "  carried"  to  the  station  at  the  gate,  shows  tha 
he  could  not  in  the  least  degree  walk  or  stand.  It  was  a  cast 
past  the  help  of  staves  or  crutches ;  for  the  man's  limbs  lay  at 
dead  underneath  him.  Besides,  he  was  taken  "  daily"  to  th* 
most  conspicuous  of  the  temple  gates,  and  having  been  ther* 
day  after  day  for  years,  he  must  have  been  one  of  the  person* 
best  known  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem;  and  thi<- 
tended  farther  to  magnify  the  miracle,  when  he,  whose  person 
and  condition  were  so  familiarly  known,  appeared  one  after- 
noon at  the  hour  of  public  prayer  in  the  temple,  "  walking, 
and  leaping,  and  praising  God." 

The  circumstances  were  simple  but  exceeding^  impressive. 

Peter  and  John  wrere  proceeding  to  the  tempi©  at  the  time 


30  FORTIETH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

of  evening  prayer,  being  the  nintli  hour,  or  three  o'clock, 
when,  as  they  passed,  this  lame  mendicant  asked  alms  of 
them,  as  he  did  of  others.  Regarding  his  disease  as  incurable, 
he  had  long  since  abandoned  the  hope  of  being  healed,  if  he 
had  ever  entertained  it ;  and  all  his  thought  was  now  for  the 
sustentation  of  his  miserable  existence — although,  perhaps, 
from  the  habit  that  use  breeds,*  he  had  himself  ceased  to 
feel  the  misery  of  his  condition.  It  was  Peter  who  answered 
this  appeal.  Earnestly  regarding  the  poor  man,  the  apostle, 
to  fix  his  attention,  said  to  him,  "  Look  on  us."  And  doubt- 
less the  man  looked  very  eagerly,  in  the  hope  of  some  valua- 
ble donation.  But  Peter,  perceiving  this,  proceeded,  in  words 
which  conveyed  the  assurance,  that  he  and  his  friend  would 
willingly  relieve  his  wants,  if  in  their  power ;  but  they  also 
were  poor :  "  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none."  We  may  easily 
conceive  that  the  cripple's  countenance  fell  at  this,  and  he  was 
about  to  turn  from  this  barren  sympathy  with  disappointment, 
and  perhaps  with  some  little  resentment  at  the  seeming  mock- 
ery of  a  frustrated  hope.  But  his  attention  was  forcibly  re- 
called by  the  words  :  u  But  such  as  I  have,  give  I  thee."  Then 
he  had  something  to  give  after  all ;  something  which  is  not 
silver  and  gold  might  be  as  good.  And  indeed  he  had.  He 
had  that  to  bestow  which  was  far  more  precious  than  aught 
that  the  wealthiest  of  those  that  passed  by  could  give — far 
more  rich  in  joy  and  blessing  than  he  could  have  received,  had 

"  Affluent  Fortune  emptied  all  her  horn  " 

into  his  cup.  For  Peter,  in  the  concentrated  energy  of  faith, 
cried  aloud,  "In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  rise 
up  and  walk !"  This,  at  the  first  view,  might  have  seemed  an 
absurd  command.  "  For  the  cripple  might  have  readily  ob- 
jected, Why  hast  thou  not  first  given  me  legs  and  feet?  For 
this  is  a  plain  mock,  when  as  thou  biddest  a  man  without  feet 
to  go."f        But  the  man  understood  the  words  aright ;  for  they 

*  "  How  use  doth  breed  a  habit  iu  a  man." — Shakspeare. 
f  Calvin :  Comment,  on  the  Acts,  in  Fetherstone's  fine  old  transla- 
tion, lately  reproduced  by  the  Calvin  Translation  Society.    Edin.  1844 . 


THE    LAME    BEGGAR.  31 

were  interpreted  to  him  by  the  tingling  life  that,  as  they  were 
uttered,  rushed  triumphantly  into  his  dead  limbs.  Peter  also 
took  him  by  the  hand  and  helped  him  up ;  and  forthwith  he 
followed  his  deliverers  into  the  temple,  "  walking,  and  leaping, 
and  praising  God."  lie  had  never  before  set  the  sole  of  his 
foot  upon  the  ground — never  before  put  one  foot  before  anoth- 
er, but  now  he  walks  and  leaps.  Perhaps  the  phrase  may  be 
meant  to  denote  that  the  man's  first  efforts  at  the  unknown  art 
of  progression  upon  his  feet,  was  a  peculiar  movement,  part- 
ly leaping  and  partly  walking,  as  would,  we  imagine,  have 
been  natural  under  the  circumstances.  His  first  impulse  would 
probably  be  to  move  both  feet  at  once,  and  this  would  be 
"  leaping ;"  but  finding  this  was  wrong,  he  would  try  to  move 
his  limbs  alternately,  and  this  was  "  walking."  The  leaping 
may,  however,  have  been  a  spontaneous  act  expressive  of  his 
gladness,  and  calculated  to  satisfy  himself,  and  to  show  others, 
that  he  was  perfectly  healed. 

The  man  clung  to  the  apostles,  as  they  made  their  way  to 
Solomon's  Porch  ;  and  the  people  recognizing  his  familiar  face, 
and  gathering  from  his  bursts  of  gratitude  and  adoring  praise 
what  had  taken  place,  ran  together  from  all  quarters  to  that 
spot.  Peter  took  the  opportunity  of  addressing  them.  Seeing 
how  earnestly  the  congregation  gazed  on  those  who  had  per- 
formed a  work  so  marvellous,  the  apostle  disclaimed  all  inher- 
ent power  or  authority  to  do  this  deed.  It  then  became  neces- 
sary to  tell  by  whose  authority  it  had  been  accomplished — 
who,  indeed,  was  the  real  author  of  this  miracle.  He  told 
them  it  was  Jesus,  "  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just,"  whom,  they 
had  lately  slain,  and  the  deep  guilt  of  whose  death  lay  at  their 
doors.  It  was  by  faith  in  his  name  that  this  man  had  been 
made  whole.  Not,  as  some  imagine,  the  faith  of  the  man,  but 
the  faith  which  Peter  and  John  had  exercised  in  believing  that 
their  Lord  would  listen  to  their  voice.  Seeing  that  he  had 
made  some  impression  by  his  first  words,  the  apostle  spoke 
more  tenderly,  and  assured  them  there  was  still  room  for  re- 
pentance, and  that  they  might  still  secure  their  part  in  that 
Divine  kingdom  which  Jesus  had  established.     To  Him  all 


32  FORTIETH    WEEK FRIDAT. 

the  prophets  had  borne  witness,  and  He  still  stood  ready  to 
bless  them — and  how  ?  "  By  turning  them  from  their  iniqui- 
ties." 

While  he  was  speaking,  or  when  he  had  just  finished,  a  re- 
port— probably  vague  and  garbled — of  these  proceedings,  and 
of  the  words  of  Peter,  was  carried  to  the  Sanhedrim,  then  sit- 
ting in  a  chamber  close  by.  The  members  of  this  high  court 
had  not  expected  to  hear  anything  more  of  Jesus.  He  was 
dead ;  and  his  humble  followers,  deprived  of  their  head,  seemed 
little  likely  to  revive  his  cause,  or  to  give  any  ground  of  ap- 
prehension. No.  They  would  doubtless  disperse  to  theif 
homes,  resume  their  occupations,  and  look  back  upon  all  the 
past  as  a  time  of  visions  and  dreams. 

They  were  grievously  mistaken  !  That  which  they  deemed 
to  be  ended  was  only  begun. 

Probably  the  quietness  of  the  disciples  during  the  interval 
from  the  Crucifixion  to  the  day  of  Pentecost,  confirmed  the 
Sanhedrim  in  the  impression  that,  through  their  vigorous 
treatment  of  Jesus,  they  had  put  an  end  to  a  matter  that  had 
once  seemed  so  threatening.  The  boldness,  therefore,  with 
which  the  apostles  came  forth,  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  proclaim  the  crucified  Jesus  as  still  the  Son  of  God, 
still  the  Messiah,  still  the  Hope  of  Israel,  still  the  Redeemer 
of  the  world ;  to  speak  of  his  death  as  a  murderous  and  fatal 
crime,  calling  for  deep  repentance ;  and  to  declare  that  He 
still  lived  and  reigned — all  this  alarmed  the  Jewish  rulers ; 
and  they  stood  observing  with  deep  solicitude  whereunto  this 
matter  would  grow ;  fearful  of  committing  any  new  mistake, 
but  watchful  for  any  ostensible  ground  of  interference. 

This  the  present  occasion  seemed  to  supply ;  and  further 
delay  seemed  dangerous,  as  it  was  evident  that  a  strong  im- 
pression— somewhat  analogous  to  that  caused  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Lazarus — had  been  made  upon  the  minds  of  the  people. 
They  therefore  sent  to  apprehend  Peter  and  John,  having 
probably,  to  overawe  the  multitude,  obtained  the  assistance  of 
the  Roman  guard  from  the  adjacent  tower  of  Antonia. 

It  was  already  later  than  the  time  that  the  court  of  the 


THE    LAME   BEGGAR.  33 

Sanhedrim  usually  rose  ;  and  the  members  were  not  inclined 
to  concede  an  extra  or  a  prolonged  sitting  to  the  case  of  these 
poor  fishermen.  No :  they  might  lie  in  prison  till  the  next 
day,  lest  their  examination  should  interfere  with  the  dinner  of 
these  "  reverend  signiors."  In  the  morning,  the  two  apostles, 
having  had  their  first  taste  of  the  "  imprisonments"  to  which 
they  were  afterwards  so  long  and  so  often  subjected,  were 
brought  up  into  the  chamber  Gazeth,  where  the  Sanhedrim 
usually  held  its  sittings. 

And  from  this  point  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that  the 
Sadducees  appear  as  the  chief  opponents  of  the  apostles  and 
their  cause,  and  not  the  Pharisees,  as  in  the  time  of  Jesus. 
The  reason  appears  to  be  that  the  apostles  gave  prominence  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  as  illustrated  by  the  resurrec- 
tion  of  their  Lord — a  doctrine  hateful  to  the  Sadducees,  but 
very  acceptable  to  the  Pharisees.  Hence  we  shall  see  the 
latter  often  inclining  to  take  the  part  of  the  apostles  at  times 
when  the  Sadducees  were  most  opposed  to  them.  So  on  this 
occasion  the  Pharisees  are  not  named ;  but  the  Sadducees  are 
introduced  as  "  being  grieved,  that  they  (the  apostles)  taught 
the  people,  and  preached  through  Jesus  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead." 

Those  who  had  been  strongly  impressed  even  to  conviction 
by  the  discourse  of  Peter  the  day  before,  were  not  less  than 
five  thousand ;  and  of  these  there  was  no  doubt  a  large  and 
anxious  number  present  to  watch  the  course  of  the  proceed- 
ings. It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  presence  of  a  large  audience 
manifestly  favorable  to  the  cause  of  the  accused,  may  have- 
had  considerable  influence  upon  the  demeanor  of  the  Sanhe- 
drim. 

On  being  questioned,  Peter  spoke  boldly,  to  the  same  pur- 
port as  in  his  sermon  of  the  day  before.  Seeing  that  the 
apostles  were  men  of  the  common  class,  the  learned  audience 
was  amazed  at  the  boldness,  power,  and  knowledge  with  which 
they  spoke ;  and  seeing  that  the  man  who  had  been  healed 
stood  by,  ready  to  extol  and  support  by  his  testimony  the  true 
miracle  that  had  been  wrought,  the  court  was  not  anxious  to 

2* 


34  FORTIETH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

go  into  any  evidence,  but,  upon  conferring  together,  agreed 
that  "  a  notable  miracle"  had  undeniably  been  wrought.  It 
was  useless,  they  admitted,  to  say  anything  against  it,  or  to 
press  the  inquiry  further.  The  best  course  must  be  to  smother 
the  matter  quietly,  and  put  a  final  end  to  these  unpleasant 
matters,  by  enjoining  Peter  and  John  under  serious  penalties 
"  not  to  speak  at  all,  nor  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus."  But 
they  found  to  their  amazement  that  the  apostles  were  not  at 
all  disposed  to  be  liberated  under  the  shackle  of  any  such  con- 
dition. Both  answered,  or  perhaps  Peter  for  both — "  Whether 
it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
unto  God,,  judge  ye.  For  toe  cannot  but  speak  the  things 
which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 

So  after  some  further  threatening,  Peter  and  John  were  lib- 
erated unconditionally,  the  rulers  not  finding  any  matter  for 
which  they  could  be  punished,  and  perceiving  that  the  popular 
feeling  was  decidedly  with  the  apostles,  on  account  of  the  mir- 
acle of  mercy  they  had  wrought  upon  a  poor  creature  whose 
miserable  condition  had,  for  many  long  years,  been  constantly 
before  their  eyes.  For  the  man  was  above  forty  years  old  on 
whom  this  miracle  of  healing  had  been  wrought,  and  we  know 
that  he  had  been  a  cripple  from  his  birth. 


FORTIETH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

ALL   THINGS    COMMON. ACTS    II.  41-47  ;    IV.  32-35. 

Before  the  day  of  Pentecost,  there  were  at  least  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  disciples  at  Jerusalem, — that  day  added  three 
thousand  to  the  church ;  and  many  of  those  who  "  heard  the 
the  word,"  after  the  miracle  at  the  Beautiful  Gate,  believed,  to 
the  number  of  about  five  thousand.  This  makes  altogether 
eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty  souls ;  but,  besides 
this,  we  are  told  that  intermediately  the  Lord  had  "  daily  added 
to  the  church  such  as  should  be  saved."     We  may,  therefore. 


ALL   THINGS    COMMON.  35 

safely  conclude,  that  the  church  at  Jerusalem  comprised  at  this 
time  not  less  than  ten  thousand  members.  This  was  the  prim- 
itive church  ;  and  it  is  deeply  interesting  to  inquire  into  its 
state,  and  examine  the  principles  by  which  it  was  animated. 
The  record  before  us,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  affords  some 
interesting  materials  for  this  inquiry. 

From  this  record  it  appears  that  the  lives  and  manners  of 
the  new  converts,  after  the  great  day  of  Pentecost,  assumed  a 
character  in  perfect  conformity  with  the  first  principles  of  the 
religion  into  which  they  had  been  led ;  and  it  were  impossible 
to  find  a  more  pleasing  picture  than  that,  which  these  intima- 
tions give  of  all  that  is  amiable  and  instructive  in  the  religion 
of  Jesus.  As  charity",  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  as  the 
love  of  mankind,  founded  on  the  love  of  God  through  Christ, 
as  a  more  perfect  and  exalted  holiness  animated  their  whole 
conduct,  we  behold  nothing  but  that  happy  community  of 
sentiments,  which  is  the  ornament  and  perfection  of  the  Chris- 
tian church.  Having  been  through  grace  enabled  to  "  save 
themselves  "  from  the  entano-lenients  and  dangers  of  an  "  unto- 
ward  generation,"  they  gathered  closely  around  the  apostles 
and  early  disciples  of  Him  whom  they  now  recognised  as 
their  Lord  and  their  Redeemer.  "  They  continued  steadfastly 
in  the  apostles'  doctrine" — hearing  the  apostles  declare  the 
way  of  salvation :  and  in  manifesting  the  proper  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  "  in  fellowship," — that  is,  not  communion  but  commu- 
nication, or  a  generous  and  unaffected  liberality  to  all  the 
brethren  ;  "  in  breaking  of  bread," — that  is,  some  have  sup- 
posed, in  the  participation  of  the  Lord's  supper,  but  assuredly, 
at  least  in  the  exercise  of  an  open  unrestrained  hospitality ; 
and  "  in  prayer,"  presenting  their  united  petitions  to  their 
Heavenly  Father,  through  Him  who  alone  makes  all  prayer 
acceptable,  and  who  had  promised  that,  whatever  they  should 
"  ask  the  Father  in  his  name,  He  would  bestow." 

We  are  next  informed,  that  they  who  "  believed  were  to- 
gether, and  had  all  things  common."  This  we  caunot  sup- 
pose to  mean  either  that  they  assembled  at  one  time  in  one 
place-— for  their  number  was  too  large  for  this ;  nor  that  they 


36  FORTIETH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

resigned  all  particular  interest  in  the  property  they  possessed ; 
for  some,  we  soon  afterwards  find,  sold  such  possessions  as  they 
had,  that  the  proceeds  might  be  disbursed  to  relieve  the  wants 
of  the  poorer  brethren,  which  they  could  not  have  done  had 
they  literally  had  all  things  common  before.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  the  apostles  held  all 
their  property  in  a  common  stock,  Judas  being  their  treasurer 
They  regarded  themselves  as  a  family,  having  common  wants, 
so  that  there  was  no  use  or  reason  in  their  possessing  property  x 
by  themselves.  It  was,  besides,  then  a  matter  of  convenience 
among  men  living  and  travelling  together  as  they  did  ;  for  one 
who  at  any  time  had  something  of  his  own,  would  find  him- 
self so  strongly  called  to  satisfy  some  wants  of  others,  who  at 
that  time  had  nothing,  that  it  was  obviously  the  best  course 
for  every  one  to  cast  into  a  common  stock  whatever  came  to 
him.  This  practice  was  without  doubt  retained  by  the  apos- 
tles so  long  as  they  remained  together  ;  and  to  the  new  con- 
verts it  might  seem  as  a  model  for  their  proceeding  also,  at 
least  for  the  time.  Yet,  even  in  our  Lord's  days,  it  seems  that 
the  apostles  themselves  did  not  relinquish  all  their  private 
property.  The  Galilean  fishermen  did  not  sell  their  most  val- 
uable possessions — their  boats,  but  still  had  them,  and  used 
them,  after  our  Lord's  resurrection.  It  appears  also  that  John 
possessed  some  property  which  he  retained,  and  which  enabled 
him  to  offer  a  home  to  the  mother  of  Jesus.  * 

It  is  clear  indeed  that  our  Lord  did  not  command  tire  apos- 
tles to  give  up  their  property  into  a  common  stock  ;  and  it  is 
equally  clear  that  the  apostles  themselves  did  not  enjoin  it; 
for  we  shall  presently  hear  Peter  asking  one  who  had  dealt 
perversely  in  this  matter — "  While  it  remained  was  it  not 
thine  own,  and  after  it  was  sold  was  it  not  in  thine  own  pow- 
er?"! It  was  therefore  an  entirely  voluntary  act  throughout, 
and  by  no  means  imposed  upon  the  new  converts,  or  exacted 
from  them  by  the  apostles.  It  was  a  mode  naturally  suggest  - 
ed  by  the  exigences  of  the  infant  church,  of  applying  those 
principles  of  brotherly  love,  and  of  self-suppression,  which  the 
*  John  xix.  27.  \  Acts  v.  4. 


Al,L   THINGS    COMMON.  37 

Lord  himself  had  constantly  inculcated.  The  need  to  be  met 
was  instant  and  special,  and  such  as  did  not  exist  afterwards 
among  the  churches  formed  among  the  heathen,  where  con- 
sequently, we  find  nothing  of  this  mentioned  by  the  apostles 
in  their  epistles,  in  which  the  practice  actually  enjoined  was, 
that  every  one  should  lay  aside  week  by  week  "  as  the  Lord 
had  prospered  him,"  some  portion  of  his  earnings  for  the  poor- 
er brethren :  and  it  was  expected  that  he  would  contribute 
liberally,  according  to  his  means,  to  the  collections  made  on 
special  emergencies.  We  read  of  such  collections  among  the 
churches  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece  for  "  the  poor  saints  at 
Jerusalem,"  in  which  Paul  greatly  interested  himself,  and 
which  he  urgently  enforced.  This  constant  remembrance  of 
the  Christians  in  Judea  by  those  in  foreign  parts,  points  to 
some  peculiar  causes  of  destitution  which  did  not  in  the  same 
degree  exist  elsewhere.  This  is  not  difficult  to  find.  The 
converts  in  Judea,  by  the  mere  fact  of  their  adhesion  to  Christ, 
"  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,"  unless  they  had  property  in- 
dependent of  the  will,  favor,  or  patronage  of  others — and  the 
proportion  of  these  was  few.  So  deep  an  offence  against  Jew- 
ish prejudices  cast  them  loose  from  Jewish  charities,  and  in- 
volved loss  of  employment  to  such  as  were  traders,  and  dis- 
missal from  their  employments  to  such  as  were  workmen  and 
servants,  producing  a  state  of  destitution  which  rendered  ex- 
traordinary exertions  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  more  pros- 
perous brethren ;  and  how  nobly  they  responded  to  the  de- 
mands of  this  great  emergency  is  shown  in  the  record  before 
us.  This  is  no  conjecture.  It  is  illustrated  and  proved  by 
what  we  actually  see  in  operation  at  this  day  in  Jerusalem. 
In  that  city  some  converts  from  Judaism  are  made ;  and  no 
sooner  does  this  appear,  than  they  are  instantly  cut  off  from 
all  aid,  support,  and  employment  from  the  Jews  there,  and 
would  starve  but  for  the  missionaries,  upon  whose  resources 
they  are  entirely  thrown,  and  who  are  obliged  to  sustain  them 
until  they  can  find  some  means  of  employment  for  them,  or 
can  raise  funds  to  send  them  out  of  the  country.  Henca 
great  sacrifices  are  made  by  those  on  the  spot  for  their   relief, 


38  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK SUNDAY. 

and  hence  the  earnest  appeals  sent  home  for  help  to  the  con- 
verts at  Jerusalem.     The  parallel  is  as  close  as  can  well  be. 

The  necessity  was  too  great  for  the  richer  brethren  to  be 
able  to  meet  it  from  their  income  merely  ;  and  therefore  they 
sold  so  much  personal  property  or  real  estate  (for  both  are 
specified)  as  was  requisite  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  destitute 
brethren,  and  brought  the  proceeds  to  the  apostles,  that  they 
might  make  the  distribution  "  as  every  man  had  need."  This 
practice,  through  the  eager  liberality  of  the  prosperous  con- 
verts, soon  laid  upon  the  apostles  (as  we  shall  presently  see)  a 
burden  too  heavy  for  them  to  bear.  But  the  picture  of  cheer- 
ful and  happy  unanimity  which  prevailed  under  this  state  of 
things  in  the  infant  church  is  most  cheering  to  contemplate, 
while  it  yet  raises  a  sigh  for  that  day  when  we  may  behold 
the  like  again.  "  The  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were 
of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul.  Neither  said  any  of  them 
that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was  his  own." 
They  possessed  as  not  possessing,  regarding  all  but  as  held  in 
trust  for  the  Lord's  service,  and  always  ready  for  any  claims 
which  that  service  made. 


£oxt$~£ix&t  iXIsek— Qmiba$. 

ANANIAS    AND    SAPPHIRA.— ACTS    IV.  36-V.  11. 

The  sacred  writer  gives  two  instances  of  the  practice  which 
we  last  evening  inquired  into — one  an  example,  another  a 
warning. 

The  first  case  is  that  of  Joses,  a  man  who,  from  his  excellent 
qualities  and  amiable  manners,  acquired  the  surname  of  Bar- 
nabas, or  "  son  of  consolation."  This  name,  which  afterwards 
became  illustrious  in  the  church,  was  that  of  a  Levite,  who, 
although  then  residing  at  Jerusalem,  was  a  native  of  Cyprus. 
This  person  sold  his  estates,  and  voluntarily  bringing  to  the 
apostles  the  produce — which,  from  the  manner  in  which  his 


ANANIAS    AND    SAPPHIRA.  39 

conduct  is  singled  out  for  contrast  with  that  of  another  less 
amiable  character,  was  doubtless  very  considerable — rejoiced 
to  take  his  share  in  the  general  distribution.  Although  this 
extent  of  relinquishment  was  not  obligatory,  yet  it  was  natural 
that  those  who  thus  manifested  their  love  to  the  brethren,  and 
their  devotedness  to  tho  service  of  the  church,  should  appear 
to  great  advantage,  and  be  much  looked  up  to  in  comparison 
with  those  who,  although  not  strictly  bound  to  follow  such  ex- 
amples, at  least  had  the  same  motives  to  disinterestedness  and 
zeal.  Those  who  abstained  from  this  noble  and  generous 
course,  unless  prevented  by  some  special  and  recognizable  rea- 
sons, must,  in  such  a  state  of  society,  have  appeared  in  a  strange 
and  anomalous  position,  and  could  not  fail  to  be  held  in  less 
esteem,  if  only  as  "  weak  brethren." 

This  was  felt  by  a  disciple  named  Ananias,  and  his  feeling 
was  shared  by  his  wife  Sapphira — a  beautiful  name,  which 
the  infamy  of  this  woman  has  unhappily  thrown  out  of  use. 
They  loved  the  praise  of  men,  and  could  not  be  content  to  be 
held  in  less  consideration  than  such  bright  examples  as  Barna- 
bas. But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  loved  money  quite  as  well 
— even  better.  They  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  giving  this 
price  for  the  good  opinion  of  others  to  which  they  aspired. 
They  had  not  faith  to  cast  their  cares  upon  God,  by  giving  up 
all  they  had  for  Him.  They  feared  they  might  come  to  want 
— they  feared  to  endanger  their  comforts  beyond  recall — they 
wished  to  retain  some  security  against  the  contingencies  which 
the  future  might  produce.  In  one  word,  they  loved  money, 
and  had  not  the  heart  to  part  with  it  altogether.  No  doubt 
man  and  wife  talked  over  this  matter  night  and  day,  until  they 
fell  upon  what  both  regarded  as  a  brilliant  conception,  an  ad- 
mirable device  for  securing  both  objects,  winning  the  respect 
of  the  church,  without  altogether  abandoning  their  substance. 
It  was  known  that  they  possessed  an  estate ;  this  they  would 
sell — really  sell  it.  This  every  one  would  know ;  but  it  would 
not  have  been  known  what  they  received  for  it ;  for  estates 
were  not  in  those  days  sold  by  auction,  and  it  is  likely  that 
the  estate  was  away  somewhere  in  the  country,  and  not  near 


40  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK SUNDAY. 

Jerusalem.  What  so  easy,  then,  as  to  give  into  the  hands  of 
the  apostles,  for  the  general  good,  a  certain  sum  as  the  whole 
produce  of  the  sale,  reserving  the  rest  as  a  secret  treasure  for 
themselves.  They  would  thus  enjoy  their  private  comforts  and 
satisfactions,  their  little  securities  against  the  time  to  come ; 
and  while  thus  pursuing  very  second-rate  conduct,  they  would 
win  the  credit  of  first-rate  sacrifices.  What  could  be  easier 
than  this  ?  Nothing.  For,  "  as  easy  as  lying,"  is  a  proverb. 
It  was  altogether  a  most  precious  plot,  neat  and  well  com- 
pacted. In  it  nothing  was  forgotten — except  God ;  everything 
was  remembered — save  Him.  Yet,  although  they  could  de- 
ceive man,  they  could  not  deceive  Him — and  He  was  to  be 
their  Judge  in  that  day  when  the  dark  secrets  of  many  hearts 
shall  be  revealed  in  the  eyes  of  men  and  angels.  And  even 
here,  they  would  not  have  realized  what  they  sought ;  for  every 
day  the  thought  how  little  they  had  really  deserved  the  credit 
they  had  acquired  among  their  fellows,  would  have  been  a 
sharp  sting  in  the  midst  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  their  secret 
wealth. 

But  there  was  an  eye  even  on  earth  that  saw  it — the  eye 
of  Peter.  He  was  apprised  of  what  took  place  by  special 
revelation,  perhaps ;  or  it  may  be  that  the  important  faculty 
of  "  discerning  of  spirits,"  by  which  those  who  had  plenarily 
received  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  apostles  had,  were  able  to 
read  the  hearts  and  souls  of  others,  sufficed  for  the  occasion. 

When,  therefore,  Ananias  appeared  with  his  money,  and 
tendered  it  to  the  apostles  as  the  produce  of  his  estate,  gener- 
ously and  liberally  offered  by  him  for  the  wants  of  the  Church, 
he  was  confounded  by  the  stern  and  solemn  voice  in  which 
Peter  addressed  him, — "  Ananias,  why  hath  Satan  filled  thy 
heart  to  lie  unto  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  keep  back  part  of  the 
price  of  the  land  ?  While  it  remained,  was  it  not  thine  own ; 
and  after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine  own  power? — thou 

HAST    NOT  LIED  UNTO    MEN,  BUT  UNTO  GOD."       At  these  WOrds, 

which  disclosed  the  deformity  and  guilt  of  his  conduct  to  him- 
self, which  declared  it  in  the  presence  of  others ;  and,  above 
all,  when  he  was  denounced  as  one  who   had  lied  unto  God, 


ANANIAS    AND   SAPPHIRA.  41 

the  wretched  man  was  overwhelmed,  and,  without  uttering  a 
word,  fell  to  the  ground — dead.  This  was  the  finger  of  God 
— his  finger,  whether,  as  some  suppose,  by  the  instant  and 
judicial  immolation  of  the  offender  by  supernatural  means  ;  or 
whether  the  death  was  accomplished  through  natural  means 
— the  smiting  terrors  of  his  conscience,  the  shame,  the  horror, 
the  exposure,  at  the  moment  when  all  seerred  most  secure, 
giving  such  a  shock  to  the  frame  as  might  quite  suffice  to  pro- 
duce sudden  death.  It  has  often  done  so  in  the  cases  of  other 
men.  Peter  did  not  sentence  him — did  not  denounce  his 
death.  But  God  undoubtedly  designed  that  he  should  die, 
to  warn  the  church  of  His  abhorrence  of  hypocrisy;  and 
whether  He  saw  fit  to  inflict  that  death  by  natural  means  is 
of  small  consequence. 

This  awful  judgment  made  a  deep  and  powerful  impression 
upon  those  by  whom  it  was  witnessed,  and  indeed  upon  all 
who  heard  of  it.  When  the  first  agitation  had  a  little  sub- 
sided, the  young  men  of  the  congregation  who  were  present, 
advanced  to  prepare  the  body  for  interment.  They  wound  it 
up  in  the  usual  burying  clothes  and  bandages,  which  served 
instead  of  coffins  among  the  Jews,  as  is  still  the  case  in  Eastern 
nations,  to  which  such  receptacles  for  the  dead  are  unknown. 
They  then  bore  the  body  away,  to  deposit  in  the  cemetry  be- 
yond the  city.  All  seems  to  have  been  done  in  an  orderly 
and  decent  manner,  though  there  must  have  been  an  absence 
of  those  circumstances  which  ensued  when  a  man  died  among 
his  relatives,  and  in  his  own  nest — the  wailings,  the  train  of 
mourners,  and  the  like.  The  Jews  usually  buried  their  dead 
soon  after  death,  as  we  have  more  than  once  seen ;  but  this 
was  quicker  than  usual — simply  because  it  was  desirable  to 
remove  the  body,  and  there  was  an  object  in  not  taking  it  to 
his  own  home,  even  indeed  if  those  then  present  knew  where 
that  was. 

As  some  little  time  had  elapsed  in  the  first  instance,  as  then 
the  body  had  to  be  prepared  for  burial,  and  taken  beyond  the 
city,  and  as  the  grave  had  to  be  digged  when  the  spot  was 
reached,  it  was  three  hours  after  the  death  of  Ananias  before 


42  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK — SUNDAY. 

the  young  men  returned  from  the  burial.  It  was  just  as  they 
reached  the  place,  that  another  similar  judgment  upon  the 
wife  of  Ananias  supplied  a  fresh  occasion  for  their  painful 
services. 

Sapphira  had  then  entered  quite  ignorant  of  all  that  had 
occurred,  and  prepared,  no  doubt,  to  receive  her  share  of  the 
consideration  and  approval  which  the  Christian  generosity  of 
her  husband  must,  she  supposed,  have  secured.  But  Peter 
knew  or  suspected  her  complicity  in  this  shameful  business, 
if,  indeed,  the  crime  had  not  been  originally  of  her  suggestion 
— tempting,  like  another  Eve,  her  husband  to  the  sin  which 
ruined  both. 

Peter  immediately  spoke  to  her  when  she  came  in,  asking 
her  if  the  land  had  been  sold  for  "  so  much  ?" — naming  the 
sum  which  Ananias  had  brought  as  the  entire  produce  of  the 
sale.  Thus  was  an  opportunity  graciously  afforded  her  for 
repentance — and  in  many  a  guilty  but  more  ingenuous  heart, 
the  very  question  of  the  apostle  would  have  produced  instant 
and  tearful  confession  of  the  wrong  that  had  been  done.  .Such 
a  moment  for  reflection  as  was  given  to  her,  has  often  by  God's 
grace  saved  a  soul.  But  Sapphira's  heart  was  hardened  ;  and 
she  made  herself  more  guilty  than  her  husband,  by  deliberately 
and  emphatically  confirming  the  fraud,  in  answer  to  a  direct 
question  from  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church,  and  in  the 
presence  of  that  assembly,  composed  of  persons  who  had  come 
out  from  the  untoward  generation  of  worldly  men.  Under 
the  fixed  eye  of  the  apostle,  which  was  looking  into  her  soul, 
she  blenched  not  to  answer,  "  Yea,  for  so  much" — an  assertion 
which  must  have  given  a  thrill  of  dismay  and  horror  to  those, 
then  present,  who  had  not  long  before  witnessed  the  doom  of 
her  husband.  Peter  himself  dealt  with  this  atrocity  even 
more  severely  than  in  the  case  of  the  husband.  Then,  he  had 
declared  the  crime,  but  did  not  denounce  the  punishment. 
But  now,  he  not  only  declares  the  offence,  but  judicially  sen- 
tences the  offender.  "  How  is  it,"  he  said  with  painful  emotion, 
"that  ye  have  agreed  together  to  tempt  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord;"  and  then  raising  his  voice,  yet  shrinking  to  name 


ANANIAS    AND    SAPPHIRA.  43 

directly  the  doom  lie  felt  impelled  to  pronounce,  he  cried : 
"  Behold  the  feet  of  them  which  have  buried  thy  husband  are 
at  the  door — and  shall  carry  thee  out."  Thus  in  one 
moment  she  heard  the  dreadful  information  of  her  husband's 
end  and  of  the  instant  approach  of  her  own.  Thereon  she 
fell  to  the  ground  and  died,  as  he  had  done,  and  the  young 
men  then  coming  in,  took  away  the  body,  and  buried  her  be- 
side her  husband.  This  latter  case  being  most  manifestly  the 
act  and  judgment  of  God,  shows  that  both  were  so.  It  might 
be  said,  and  could  not  be  disproved,  that  Ananias  died  natur- 
ally, though  suddenly,  from  the  nervous  shock  his  system  had 
received.  But  this  was  not  the  case  in  the  latter  instance ; 
for  Sapphira's  death,  then  and  there,  was  distinctly  declared 
by  the  apostle — and  however  possible  it  might  be  that  the 
shock  might  kill  her  also, — the  apostle  could  not  have  reck- 
oned upon  that  as  a  certainty,  and,  from  the  hardihood  the 
woman  had  evinced,  the  probabilities  were  rather  against  than 
for  this  result.  The  hand  of  God  wras  visible  here.  It  seemed 
good  to  Him  by  this  severity  of  judgment  to  attest  his  hatred 
of  worklliness,  and  double-dyed  hypocrisy  ;  to  confirm  the  au- 
thority of  the  apostles,  for  judgment  no  less  than  mercy  ;  and 
to  maintain  the  purity  of  the  infant  church,  which  would  have 
been  seriously  endangered  had  such  offences  as  these  passed 
without  most  signal  punishment. 

The  effect  upon  the  church  of  these  miracles  of  judgment 
was  important  and  solemnizing.  "  Great  fear  came  upon  all 
the  church,  and  upon  as  many  as  heard  these  words." — "  And 
fear,  rightly  directed,  is  both  proper  and  salutary  to  such  a 
creature  as  man.  The  fear  of  God  and  the  dread  of  sin,  as 
displeasing  to  God,  is  the  greatest  blessing  to  the  soul.  This 
awful  example  would  produce  and  cherish  it.  Great  fear  might 
well  come  upon  all  the  disciples  when  they  saw  before  their 
eyes  the  consequence  of  sin.  The  consequence  wre  are  ready 
to  acknowledge ;  the  difficulty  is  to  feel  a  due  conviction  of 
the  truth.  We  confess  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death.  But 
*  because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily, 
therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to 


44  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK MONDAY. 

do  evil.'*  Here  the  sentence  was  executed  speedily :  here  that 
judgment  was  witnessed,  which  it  is  part  of  our  probation  to 
believe — to  receive  on  faith.  And  the  whole  event  may  well 
incline  us  to  pray  with  David:  'Keep  back  thy  servant,  O 
Lord,  from  presumptuous  sins :  let  them  not  have  dominion 
over  me ;  then  shall  I  be  upright,  and  I  shall  be  innocent 
from  the  great  transgression.'  "f 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— MONDAY. 

peter's  shadow. — acts  v.  12-26. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  death  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira 
attracted  much  public  attention  at  Jerusalem,  but  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  formally  inquired  into  by  the  authori- 
ties. 

In  Eastern  cities  many  things  pass  without  notice,  which 
would  not  fail  to  be  fully  investigated  in  communities  such  as 
our  own ;  and  in  this  case  perhaps  sufficient  enquiry  has  been 
made,  or  report  rendered  to  the  Jewish  rulers,  to  satisfy  them 
that  it  offered  no  ground  of  charge  against  the  apostles,  and 
that  any  official  notice  of  its  occurrence  could  only  tend  to 
exalt  them  in  the  opinion  of  the  people.  Indeed,  we  are  told 
that,  as  it  was,  this  event  inspired  the  unconverted  Jews  with 
great  reverence  for  the  apostles ;  and  that  while  it  deterred 
the  worldly-minded  or  hypocritical  pretenders  to  sanctity  from 
joining  the  church,  the  strength  and  character  of  which  could 
only  have  been  injured  by  their  presence,  it  by  no  means  re- 
pelled the  sincere  and  well-disposed,  who  were,  indeed,  attract- 
ed in  large  numbers  by  this  new  evidence  of  the  Divine  au- 
thority by  which  the  apostles  acted,  and  by  the  power  with 
which  they  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel.     Moreover, 

*  Eecles.  viii.  11. 

f  Psalm  xix.  13.  Archbishop  Sumner's  Practical  Exposition  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.     1838. 


peter's  shadow.  45 

while  they  were  authorised  and  enabled  to  show,  that  to  their 
hands  was  in  some  measure  entrusted  the  sword  of  God's 
judgments  upon  hypocrites,  the  exercise  of  mercy  and  kind- 
ness was  more  congenial  to  their  functions ;  for  their  miracles 
of  healing  were  performed  without  stint — all  who  applied — 
all  who  were  presented  to  their  notice,  were  forthwith  healed. 
The  fame  of  this  spreading  abroad — and  nothing  spreads  like 
this — the  sick  were  brought  from  the  neighboring  towns  to 
Jerusalem,  to  be  healed  by  the  apostles.  Peter,  from  his 
readiness  in  speaking  and  in  acting,  and  from  his  part  in  the 
recent  transaction,  was  regarded  with  especial  honor,  and  was 
conceived  to  be  specially  gifted  in  this  respect,  and  he  was 
more  looked  to  than  the  other  apostles  by  the  multitude  ;  and 
at  length  the  popular  appreciation  of  the  powers  with  which 
he  was  invested  rose  so  high,  that  the  sick  were  laid  upon  their 
beds  along  the  streets  he  was  in  the  habit  of  passing,  in  his 
daily  going  to  and  from  the  temple,  in  the  expectation  that 
the  mere  falling  of  his  shadow  upon  them  would  be  effectual 
for  their  cure.  As  he  returned,  after  he  had  attended  the  even- 
ing service,  and  had  remained  discoursing  to  the  crowding  ad- 
herents and  auditors  in  Solomon's  Porch,  which  we  are  inform- 
ed was  the  usual  place  of  resort,  it  was  probably  towards  sun- 
set when  he  returned,  and  his  lengthened  shadow  would  be 
thrown  far  across  the  way  as  he  passed.  It  is  not  expressly 
stated  that  those  who  took  this  course  were  actually  healed  ; 
and  it  is  clear  the  circumstance  is  mentioned  in  order  to  show 
the  estimation  in  which  the  healing  powers  of  th^  apostles 
were  held.  But  the  complexion  of  the  statement,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  context,  seems  to  make  it  clear  that  they 
were  healed.  And  this  impression  is  confirmed  by  the  analo- 
gous instances  of  the  woman  who  secretly  touched  the  hem 
of  our  Lord's  garment  ;*  and  especially  of  the  application  to 
distant  sick  of  handkerchiefs  and  aprons,  that  had  been  in 
contact  with  the  person  of  Paul.f  In  both  these  instances 
cures  were  effected,  and  therefore  probably  in  this  also,  as 
nothing  to  the  contrary  is  said ;  and  any  argument  that  might 
*  Matt.  ix.  21,  22.  f  Acts  xix.  12. 


46  FOKTY-FIEST    WEEK MONDAY. 

be  urged,  from  the  improbability  that  an  apparent  superstition 
would  be  thus  sanctioned,  is  at  least  as  applicable  to  the 
"handkerchiefs,"  in  the  case  of  Paul,  as  to  the  "shadow,"  in 
the  case  of  Peter.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  power  of  heal- 
ing was  not  in  the  shadow  of  Peter,  any  more  than  in  the 
vestments  of  Jesus,  or  the  handkerchief  of  Paul,  but  in  the 
faith  of  the  patients  in  the  power  of  the  Master  and  his  ser- 
vants to  heal.  Nor  did  Peter  and  the  other  apostles  sanction 
any  such  notions,  but  constantly  professed  that  they  did  not 
show  forth  these  mighty  deeds  by  any  power  of  their  oivn,  but 
solely  through  the  Divine  power  of  Jesus. 

The  publicity  of  these  proceedings,  with  the  Crowds  who 
gathered  around  the  apostles  daily  in  Solomon's  Porch,  at 
length  led  the  Jewish  rulers  to  believe  that  they  could  no  lon- 
ger neglect  with  safety,  to  take  some  steps  to  stem  a  movement 
so  rapid  and  so  strong.  The  step  they  did  take  wras  very  de- 
cided, for  they  sent  and  apprehended  the  apostles,  shutting 
them  up  in  "  the  common  prison."  It  is  not  without  meaning 
that  the  sacred  historian  mentions  this  as  especially  the  act  of 
the  Sadducees,  with  the  high -priest,  who  seems  to  have  been  of 
the  same  sect.  It  would  appear  that  at  this  time  the  Saddu- 
cees had  gained  a  paramount  influence  in  the  Sanhedrim,  and 
took  this  measure  without  the  concurrence  of  the  Pharisees  who 
were  members  of  that  assembly.  The  animosity  between 
these  two  sects  was  specially  calculated  to  move  the  Sadducees 
to  hostility  against  the  apostles  ,  as  the  latter  gave  great  prom- 
inence to  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  by  insisting  that 
Christ  had  risen  from  the  dead,  thus  affording  their  sanction, 
and  gaining  popular  adhesion  to  a  doctrine  which  was  hotly 
contested  between  the  two  sects ;  for  the  Sadducees  utterly  de- 
nied the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  which  the  Pharisees  as  strong- 
ly maintained.  Now  therefore,  that  the  Sadducees  were  able  to 
arrest  the  apostles,  shows  that  they  were  at  this  time  in  pow- 
er; and  that  the  apostles  upheld  a  favorable  tenet  of  their  op- 
ponents, supplies  a  special  inducement  for  their  action  in  this 
case,  where  the  Pharisees  would  probably  have  been  passive ; 
while  the  leniency  of  the  latter  towards  the  apostles  is  ex- 


Peter's  shadow.  47 

plained  by  the  same  circumstance.  Besides  this,  the  Saddu- 
cees  were  proverbially  severe  in  action  and  austere  in  judgment 
— and  their  prominence  in  the  Sanhedrim  would  aloneindicate 
the  probability  of  active  measures  being  taken  against  the 
teachers  of  the  new  doctrines. 

So  the  apostles  were  imprisoned,  with  a  view  to  their  ex- 
amination the  next  day  before  the  Sanhedrim.  But  during 
the  night  an  angel  was  sent  to  open  the  prison  doors,  and  set 
them  free.  What  course  they  might  have  taken  if  left  to 
themselves,  it  is  needless  to  inquire;  but  they  were  directed 
by  the  angel  to  pursue  exactly  the  same  course,  of  publicly 
teaching  in  the  temple,  that  they  had  followed  before  their 
imprisonment.  We  shall  not  now  enter  into  the  circumstances 
of  this  event,  as  a  similar  deliverance,  related  with  more  cir- 
cumstantiality, will  ere  long  engage  our  attention. 

The  next  day  there  was  a  very  full  meeting  of  the  council 
to  examine  the  prisoners,  whom  the  apparitors  were  sent  to 
fetch  from  prison.  These  officers  speedily  returned,  in  strange 
excitement,  and  related  that  they  found  everything  secure  in 
the  prison — the  doors  fastened,  and  the  guards  keeping  watch 
before  them  ;  but  when  the  door  of  the  chamber  into  which 
the  apostles  had  been  thrust  was  thrown  open,  the  place  was 
found  to  be  empty — no  prisoners  could  be  found.  Before  the 
assembly  had  recovered  from  the  astonishment  which  this 
strange  story  produced,  news  was  brought  that  the  men  cast 
yesterday  into  prison  were  now  at  large,  and  were  as  usual 
teaching  freely  and  undauntedly  in  the  temple.  On  hearing 
this,  the  captain  of  the  temple  himself,  with  a  suitable 
force,  was  sent  to  apprehend  them.  But  from  the  manifest 
indications  of  the  popular  regard  for  the  apostles,  they  found 
it  necessary  to  act  with  great  caution,  lest  any  roughness  or 
violence  towards  persons  so  venerated  should  awaken  a  com- 
motion in  which  they  might  themselves  be  stoned  to  death — 
for  the  works  of  the  temple,  still  in  progress,  caused  many 
stones  to  be  lying  about,  which  had  already  more  than  onee 
offered  a  ready  resource  for  tumultuous  resistance  to  armed 
men.     They  therefore  behaved  gently  and  civilly,  and  inform- 


48  F0RTV-FIR3T   WEEK TUESDAY. 

ed  the  apostles  that  the  council  then  sitting  desired  their  pres- 
ence. The  apostles  at  once  obeyed  the  citation  ;  and  the  peo- 
ple, seeing  that  they  quietly  followed  the  officers,  did  not  at- 
tempt to  interfere. 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

GAMALIEL. ACTS    V.  27-42. 

When  the  apostles  appeared  before  the  Sanhedrim,  the 
high-priest  charged  them  with  contumacy,  seeing  that  they 
still  taught  the  people  "  in  this  name,"  though  they  had  been 
strictly  forbidden  to  do  so.  He  recognized  the  rapid  progress 
of  their  doctrines  among  the  people — "  Ye  have  filled  Jerusa- 
lem with  your  doctrine ;"  and  accused  them  as  designing  to 
inflame  the  public  mind  against  them,  by  teaching  that  they 
had  shed  innocent  blood.  His  words  were,  "  Ye  intend  to 
bring  this  man's  blood  upon  us."  Now,  the  apostles  did  un- 
doubtedly believe  that  their  Lord  had  been  virtually  murdered 
by  this  council,  which  had  thereby  made  itself  liable  to  the 
judgments  of  God.  This  they  again  and  again  declared  in 
the  face  of  the  Sanhedrim  itself.  It  is  indeed  before  that  body 
that  they  chiefly  urge  it ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they 
dwelt  much  upon  it  in  their  public  preaching — and  then,  less 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  council  into  discredit,  than  of 
maintaining  the  honor  of  their  Lord's  character,  by  showing 
that  He  was  innocently  slain ;  and  that  the  nation,  which  had 
accepted  this  act  of  its  rulers,  had  incurred  deep  guilt  on  that 
account. 

It  is  well  to  take  notice  how  curiously  the  high-priest  evades 
using  the  name  of  Jesus,  obscurely  indicating  Him  by  the 
phrases,  "This  name"— "This  man."  This  contemptuous 
mode  of  designating  our  Lord,  as  "  that  man,"  or  "  this  man," 
of  which  we  have  here  the  first  instance,  continued  to  be  in 
use  among  the  Jews,     Many  examples  of  it  might  be  adduced 


GAMALIEL.  49 

from  their  writings.  So  a  "  heretic"  is  defined  as  "  one  that 
confesses  that  man;"  and  "heretics"  as  those  who  "are  the 
disciples  of  that  man  who  turned  to  evil  the  words  of  the  living 
God" — Jesus  being  meant. 

In  answer  to  the  charge  of  contumacy,  Peter,  who  as  usual 
undertook  to  answer  for  all  the  apostles,  by  simply  repeating 
his  former  declaration,  "  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  man," 
reminded  the  council  that  he  had  not  undertaken  to  observe 
the  previous  injunction ;  and  that,  indeed,  he  had  then,  as  now, 
declared,  that  he  acted  under  obligations  that  must  overrule 
any  commands  of  theirs.  He  then  proceeded  with  unshaken 
countenance,  before  that  assembly  which  had  condemned  his 
Lord  to  death,  to  proclaim  that  "  this  man" — that  Jesus  whom 
they  had  crucified — had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  now  stood 
exalted  at  God's  right  hand  as  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour ;  and 
he  claimed  for  himself  and  his  companions  inspiration  by  the 
Spirit  of  God. 

On  hearing  this,  the  most  vehement  wrath  and  indignation 
seized  the  hearts  of  the  council,  or  at  least  the  Sadducean  part 
of  it ;  and  they  insisted  that  it  was  needful  these  men  should 
be  put  to  death.  It  was  usual  to  send  prisoners  out  while  the 
council  deliberated  on  their  sentences;  but  in  their  heated 
eagerness,  this  was  now  overlooked,  until  one  calm  voice  was 
heard  directing  the  removal  of  the  apostles.  The  voice  was 
that  of  Gamaliel,  the  real  president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  al- 
though, in  right  of  his  office,  the  chair  was  taken  by  the  high- 
priest,  when,  as  on  the  present  occasion,  he  happened  to  be 
present.  This  eminent  man  was  a  Pharisee,  and,  as  such,  dis- 
posed, on  the  grounds  yesterday  indicated,  to  lenient  measures 
with  the  apostles  ;  and  even  without  the  bias  derived  from  an- 
tagonism to  the  Sadducees,  he  was  naturally  a  man  of  mild 
character  and  moderate  views.  His  eminent  position  in  the 
council  and  in  the  nation,  and  his  high  character,  together 
with  the  fact  that  his  decision  was  to  be  regarded  as  carrying 
with  it  that  of  the  powerful  party  to  which  he  belonged,  caused 
him  to  be  heard  with  respectful  attention,  and  gave  weight  to 
his  opinion,  even  in  an  assembly  where  the  Sadducean  influ- 

VOL.    IV.  3 


50  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK TUESDAY. 

ence  was  so  strong.  His  counsel  was  admirably  framed  to 
serve  the  apostles,  without  committing  him  decidedly  to  any 
favorable  opinion  of  their  cause.  He  urged  caution  and  for- 
bearance, and  enforced  his  advice  by  examples  from  the  past. 
Measures  of  forcible  expression  would  only  fan  the  popular 
excitement  into  a  higher  flame ;  whereas,  if  left  to  its  course, 
it  would  die  out ;  or,  if  it  rose  to  destructive  violence,  would 
be  put  out  by  the  sword  of  the  Romans,  being,  either  way, 
extinguished  like  other  great  excitements,  which  he  instanced, 
and  which  had  at  first  awakened  much  expectation  in  some, 
and  alarm  in  others.  If  the  cause  which  the  apostles  upheld 
were  destitute  of  vital  strength,  if  it  were  not  of  God,  it  would 
assuredly  come  to  nothing,  whatever  stir  it  made  at  the  mo- 
ment ;  but  if  there  were  any  good  in  it,  it  would  prosper,  in 
spite  of  all  their  endeavors  to  put  it  down ;  and  they  would 
then  incur  the  guilt  of  having  endeavored  to  lay  a  curse  where 
God  had  laid  a  blessing. 

Some  have  thought,  from  his  admitting  the  supposition  that 
the  apostles  might  prove  to  be  in  the  right,  that  he  was  se- 
cretly a  Christian,  or  at  least  had  a  leaning  in  that  direction. 
This  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  case.  The  mere  suspicion 
would  have  neutralized  all  his  counsel.  The  hypothesis  was 
necessary  to  his  argument,  and,  as  a  liberal-minded  man,  he 
did  not  shrink  from  using  it,  for  what  it  might  be  worth,  in 
favor  of  persons  so  earnest  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  promi- 
nent doctrine  of  the  Pharisees,  who  were  not  favorable  to  the 
apostles,  because  they  believed  in  Christ,  but  because  they 
preached  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is  likely  also  that 
Gamaliel's  kindly  feeling,  if  it  were  such,  changed  somewhat 
with  the  lapse  of  time;  for  we  know  that  the  man  who 
"  breathed  threatening  and  slaughter"  against  the  Christians, 
came  from  his  school.  He  also  died  with  a  high  Jewish  repu- 
tation, presiding  over  the  Sanhedrim  to  the  last,  that  is,  until 
within  eighteen  years  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or  about 
twenty-two  years  after  this.  LightfOot  says,  "  for  all  the  fair- 
ness of  this  man  at  this  time,  yet  did  he  afterwards  ordain  and 
publish  that   prayer,  called   'The  Prayer  againrt   Heretics/ 


GAMALIEL.  51 

meaning  Christians,  framed,  indeed,  by  Samuel  the  Little,  but 
approved  and  authorized  by  this  man,  president  of  the  Sanhe- 
drim, and  commanded  to  be  used  constantly  in  their  syna- 
gogues ;  in  which  they  prayed  against  the  Gospel,  and  the 
professors  of  it." 

Gamaliel  was  a  common-enough  name  among  the  Jews,  es- 
pecially in  and  after  this  age.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the 
one  before  us  is  the  most  eminent  of  them,  distinguished  as 
Gamaliel  the  elder.  The  sacred  historian  indicates  his  em- 
inence in  the  public  view,  by  describing  him  as  "  a  doctor  of 
the  law,  had  in  reputation  of  all  the  people."  A  doctor  or 
teacher  of  the  law  was  one  who  had  made  the  law  and  the 
traditions  illustrative  of  it  his  especial  study ;  and  who  taught 
it  to  others — like  a  professor  to  his  class.  Gamaliel  was  the 
first  in  reputation  of  those  professors,  and  it  was  a  distinction 
to  have  belonged  to  his  class.  This  distinction  was  enjoyed 
by  Paul,  who  more  than  once  tells  us  that  he  was  brought  up 
"  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel" — which  is  as  much  as  to  say  that 
he  had  received  the  highest  Jewish  education  which  was  ob- 
tainable at  Jerusalem. 

The  information  we  possess  concerning  this  eminent  man 
entirely  coincides  with  that  here  given.  He  was  distinguished 
as  Rabban  Gamaliel ;  and  as  there  were  two  other  Rabbans 
of  the  name,  one  his  grandson,  and  the  other  his  great-grand- 
son, he  was  further  distinguished  as  Rabban  Gamaliel  the 
elder.  Rabban  was  a  title  of  the  highest  eminence  and  note 
— as  much  more  dignified  than  Rabbi,  as  Rabbi  was  than 
Rab.  There  were,  in  fact,  but  seven  persons,  all  presidents  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  who  ever  bore  it,  and  of  these  four  were  of 
this  family.  The  first  was  his  father,  Simeon,  whom  some 
have  fancied  to  be  the  same  who  toot  the  infant  Jesus  in  his 
arms  and  blessed  Him ;  and  the  others  this  Gamaliel  and  the 
two  of  that  name  just  mentioned.  So  highly  was  the  present 
Gamaliel  esteemed,  that  the  Jewish  Mishna  declares  that  when 
he  died  the  glory  of  the  law  ceased,  and  purity  and  Pharisa- 
ism expired.  A  great  mourning  was  made  for  him,  and  it  is 
recorded  that  one  of  his  pupils,  Onkelos,  the  Targumist,  burnt 


52  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

seventy  pounds  of  frankincense  in  honor  of  the  great  Rabban 
when  he  died.  This  ostentation  was,  however,  contrary  to 
his  wish,  for  it  is  recorded  that  he  left  orders  that  his  corpse 
should  be  wrapped  up  in  linen  for  burial ;  not  in  silk,  as  had 
been  the  custom.  It  is  added,  that  this  was  very  grievous  to 
his  relations,  who  thought  he  had  not  been  interred  with  suf- 
ficient honor. 

So  much  of  Gamaliel,  with  whose  advice  to  "  refrain  from 
these  men,"  that  is,  to  leave  them  unmolested,  the  council  so 
far  agreed,  as  to  desist  from  the  purpose  of  putting  them  to 
death  ;  but  fearful  of  compromising  their  own  authority  with 
the  people,  if  they  suffered  them  to  go  altogether  unpunished, 
after  they  had  avowedly  disregarded  the  injunction  which  had 
been  laid  upon  them,  they  were  beaten  or  scourged,  and  then 
dismissed  with  a  renewed  injunction,  "not  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  Jesus."  This  being  a  Jewish  scourging,  was  of  thirty- 
nine  stripes,  like  those  which  Paul  mentions  that  he  had  been 
subject  to.  2  Cor.  xi.  24.  It  was  a  common  secondary  pun- 
ishment among  the  Jews ;  and  our  Lord  had  forewarned  his 
disciples  that  they  would  be  exposed  to  this  pain  and  shame. 
Ami  how  did  this  first  experience  of  it  affect  them?  "They 
rejoiced."  What  for?  Certainly  nut  because  they  had  been 
scourged,  nor  because,  they  had  escaped  with  their  lives,  but 
"  that  they  were  worthy  to  suffer  shame  for  his  name." 

The  sacred  historian  is  careful  to  add  that,  notwithstanding 
all  that  had  passed,  "  daily  in  the  temple  and  in  every  house, 
they  ceased  not  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus  Christ." 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THEUDAS  AND  JUDAS. ACTS  V.  36,  37. 

Let  us  this  evening  return  to  the  speech  of  Gamaliel  for 
the  purpose  of  bestowing  more  particular  attention  upon  the 
historical  circumstances  to  which  lie  refers.     "  Fur  before  these 


THEUDAS    AST)    JUDAS,  53 

days  roso  up  Theudas,  boasting  himself  to  be  somebody ;  to 
whom  a  number  of  men,  about  four  hundred,  joined  them- 
selves :  who  was  slain ;  and  all,  as  many  as  obeyed  him, 
were  scattered,  and  brought  to  nought.  After  this  man  rose 
up  Judas  of  Galilee,  in  the  days  of  the  taxing,  and  drew  away 
much  people  after  him :  he  also  perished ;  and  all,  even  as 
many  as  obeyed  him,  were  dispersed. 

To  this  mention  of  Theudas  an  objection  has  been  taken 
which  it  is  important  to  clear  up.  It  is  said  to  be  opposed  to 
the  statements  of  Josephus,  who,  in  his  Antiquities  of  the 
Jews,  relates  that  when  Fadus  was  Procurator  of  Judea,  one 
Theudas  prevailed  upon  a  great  multitude  to  take  with  them 
their  wealth,  and  follow  him  to  the  river  Jordan.  For  he 
gave  himself  out  to  be  a  prophet,  and  declared  that  the  river, 
dividing  at  his  command,  would  afford  them  an  easy  passage. 
Fadus,  however,  suffered  them  not  long  to  enjoy  their  delu- 
sion, but  sent  a  body  of  horse  against  them,  which,  foiling 
upon  them  unexpectedly,  killed  many,  and  took  many  alive. 
They  took  also  Theudas  himself,  cut  off  his  head,  and  carried 
it  to  Jerusalem.*  Now  Josephus  most  expressly  tells  us  that 
this  happened  under  the  administration  of  Fadus,  who  was 
made  Procurator  after  the  death  of  king  Herod-Agrippa,  in 
the  fourth  year  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,  and  therefore  many 
years  after  this  speech  was  made  by  Gamaliel.  It  is  therefore 
urged  by  misbelievers,  that  words  are  put  into  the  mouth  of 
Gamaliel  by  the  writer  of  the  Acts  which  he  never  uttered ; 
that  he  is  represented  as  relating  an  event  of  which  he  could 
not  at  that  time  possibly  have  had  any  knowledge,  seeing  that 
it  happened  many  years  after. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  force  of  the  objection  here  taken, 
rests  on  the  assumption  that  the  Theudas  here  mentioned  by 
Gamaliel,  and  the  Theudas  of  whom  Josephus  speaks,  are  one 
and  the  same  person.  And  this  is  attempted  to  be  proved 
from  the  identity  of  the  name  and  the  similarity  of  the  cir- 
cumstances. Each  boasted  himself  to  be  somebody,  had  a 
number  of  followers,  and  was  slain.     But,  these  being  inci- 

*  Antiquities,  xx.  5>  §  1. 


54  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK — WEDNESDAY-. 

dents  common  to  almost  all  impostors  who  raise  a  rebellion, 
they  by  no  means  prove  the  point  for  which  they  are  brought 
forward.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  also  circumstances 
stated  in  which  the  two  transactions  differ  very  widely. 
Gamaliel  expressly  says  that  his  Theudas  was  before  Judas  of 
Galilee,  who  raised  a  sedition  "  in  the  time  of  the  taxing," 
which  taxing,  as  we  have  seen,*  took  place  when  Judea  was 
made  a  Roman  province,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  our  era.  But 
the  Theudas  of  Josephus  was  under  the  Procurator  Fadus, 
that  is,  in  the  year  45  or  46  a.d.,  as  these  two  years  formed 
the  whole  duration  of  his  government.  There  was  thus,  from 
the  data  respectively  supplied  by  the  two  historians,  an  interval 
little  short,  if  at  all  short,  of  forty  years  between  the  two 
events  and  persons.  In  the  next  place,  the  Theudas  of  Jose- 
phus gathered  together  a  much  larger  body  of  men  than  the 
Theudas  of  Gamaliel;  Josephus  says,  "a  very  great  multi- 
tude ;"  whereas  Gamaliel  says,  "  a  number  of  men,  about  four 
hundred."  Of  the  very  great  multitude  who  followed  Theu- 
das, Josephus  asserts  that  many  were  killed  and  many  taken 
alive ;  but  Gamaliel  affirms  that  when  his  Theudas  was  killed, 
all  his  followers  were  scattered. 

When  we  take  into  account  this  difference  of  time  and  other 
circumstances,  it  is  obviously  suggested  that  Gamaliel  and 
Josephus  had  two  different  events  and  persons  in  view.  No 
argument  to  the  contrary  can  be  drawn  from  the  name ;  for 
Theudas  or  Thaddeus  was  in  this  age  a  xery  common  name 
among  the  Jews.  Besides  these,  several  persons  of  the  name 
are  mentioned  in  the  Talmud ;  and  one  of  the  apostles  bore 
the  name  of  Thaddeus.  The  possibility  of  this  is  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  several  seditious  leaders  in  this  age  were  called 
Judas,  besides  Judas  of  Galilee ;  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
public  impostors  bor«  the  name  of  Simon.  It  is  therefore  not 
in  itself  unlikely  that  two  leaders  of  the  name  of  Theudas 
should  appear  at  an  interval  of  forty  years. 

That  thus  there  was  a  Theudas,  other  than  the  one  named 
by  Josephus,  who  raised  a  sedition  anterior,  probably  by  somo 

*  Evening  Series. — Twenty-Eighth  Week,  Wednesday. 


THEUDAS    AND    JUDAS.  55 

years,  to  that  raised  by  Judas  of  Galilee  at  the  time  of  the  taking, 
and  that  it  is  to  him  Gamaliel  refers,  has  been  the  opinion,  or 
rather  explanation,  given  by  many  of  the  best  ancient  and 
modern  interpreters.  The  insurrection  of  Judas  of  Galilee 
was  after  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Archelaus ;  and  we  may 
find  a  time  about  the  beginning  of  that  reign  to  which  this 
other  sedition  may  very  well  be  assigned.  This  was  when 
Archelaus  was  at  Rome,  soliciting  from  the  Emperor  Augustus 
the  confirmation  of  his  father's  will.  At  that  time,  as  described 
by  Josephus  himself,  almost  the  whole  of  Palestine  was  in 
commotion.  In  Idumea  2,000  soldiers,  who  had  been  dismiss- 
ed by  Herod,  in  conjunction  with  several  others,  took  the  field 
against  Achiab  a  relation  of  Herod,  and  compelled  him,  with 
his  soldiers,  to  retire  to  the  mountains.  In  Galilee,  Judas, 
the  son  of  Hezekiah,  the  leader  of  a  band  of  robbers  that  had 
been  suppressed  by  Herod,  made  himself  master  of  Sepphoris, 
armed  his  numerous  followers  from  the  arsenal  of  that  city, 
pillaged  the  country,  and  spread  devestation  and  terror  on  every 
side.  In  Perea,  Simon,  one  of  Herod's  slaves,  assumed  the 
diadem,  collected  a  band  of  desperate  men,  robbed  the  inhab- 
itants, and  among  other  acts  of  violence,  burnt  the  royal  cas- 
tle at  Jericho.  Another  mob  fell  upon  Amathus  on  the  Jor- 
dan, and  burnt  the  royal  castle,  A  shepherd  named  Athron- 
ges  also  assumed  the  regal  title,  collected  a  large  body  of  fol- 
lowers, and  with  his  three  brothers,  all  men  of  gigantic  stature, 
laid  waste  the  country,  plundered  and  slew  the  inhabitants, 
and  sometimes  repulsed  the  Romans  themselves.  In  short, 
the  whole  country  was  full  of  bands  of  robbers,  each  having 
a  king  or  chief  at  its  head ;  and  they  seem  to  have  been  ex- 
pecting the  Messiah  to  deliver  them  from  the  Romans,  who 
then,  instead  of  protecting  the  people,  increased  the  distresses 
of  the  nation  by  their  extortions. 

It  is  thus  highly  probable  that  the  Theudas  of  Gamaliel 
arose  at  this  time.  There  is  certainly  room  here  for  him. 
He  may  even  have  been  one  of  those  just  named ;  for,  as  is 
well  known  by  the  scripture  history,  it  was  very  common  for 
Jews  to  have  two  names,  and  to  be  as  often  denoted  by  the  one 


56  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

as  the  other.  Archbishop  Ussher  thinks  that  the  Juda9,  son 
of  Hezekiah,  mentioned  just  now,  was  the  same  with  the  Theu- 
das  of  Gamaliel.     But  this  is  uncertain. 

However,  this  consideration  makes  it  also  far  from  certain 
that  this  Theudas  is  not  mentioned  by  Josephus,  though  not 
by  name,  or  not  by  the  same  name.  But,  assuming  that  he 
does  not  notice  this  circumstance,  we  may  with  confidence 
urge  that  the  silence  of  Josephus  concerning  it  is  no  good  ar- 
gument against  its  truth.  His  history  is  very  brief,  in  many 
places  passing  over  a  number  of  years  without  relating  any 
remarkable  fact.  This  is  shown  in  what  he  says,  and  does 
not  say,  of  the  "  Judas  of  Galilee,"  to  whom  Gamaliel  also  re- 
fers. He  has  not  one  word  of  the  death  of  this  notorious  per- 
son and  the  dispersion  of  his  followers  ;  yet  no  one  ever  doubt- 
ed these  facts  because  he  has  not  affirmed  them.  What  he 
does  tell  us  is  in  agreement  with  Gamaliel,  that  Judas  excited 
the  people  to  rebellion,  and  had  many  followers  ;#  and  the 
rest  of  our  information,  forming  the  obvious  sequel,  we  owe 
to  the  Rabban,  whose  speech  St.  Luke  has  preserved.  Jose- 
phus does,  however,  afterwards  inform  us  that  Jacob  and  Simon, 
the  two  sons  of  this  Judas,  were  crucified  by  the  Procurator 
Tiberius  Alexander  (a.  d.  46-47)  only  a  year  or  two  after  the 
appearance  of  the  later  Theudas  ;f  but  he  does  not  even  men- 
tion the  crimes  for  which  they  suffered,  though  no  one  doubts 
that  it  was  for  spreading  the  seditious  opinions  of  their  fa- 
ther, and  attempting  to  excite  the  people  against  the  Romans. 
From  the  analogy  which  this  case  affords,  some  have  suppos- 
ed that  the  Theudas  spoken  of  by  Josephus,  may  have  been 
the  son  of  the  Theudas  mentioned  in  the  speech  of  Gamaliel, 
it  being  no  unusual  thing  for  children  to  tread  in  the  steps 
of  their  parents. 

Of  Judas  of  Galilee  we  have  incidentally  given  all  the  in- 
formation possessed.  The  "taxing"  or  census  which  took 
place  under  Cyrenius,  when,  after  the  deposition  of  Archelaus, 
Judea  was  made  a  Roman  province,  was  a  step  which  excited 
great  discontent  among  the  Jews,  being  regarded  as  a  basis 
*  De  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  8,  §  1.  Antiq.  xviii.  1,  §  1.  f  Antiq.  xx.  4,  §  2. 


MUfiMUES.  5V 

for  further  exaction  by  the  Romans,  and  a  mark  of  their  com- 
plete subjection  to  Rome,  which  they  had  in  part  allowed 
themselves  to  forget  while  ruled  by  kings  and  ethnarchs  of 
their  own — possessing  a  shadow  of  independence.  This  dis- 
content the  high-priest  Joazar  exerted  himself  to  allay  by  all 
the  means  in  his  power.  But  this  Judas,  aided  by  one  Sad- 
due,  a  Sadducee,  more  successfully  labored  to  ferment  the 
popular  disgust,  by  representing  the  census  of  the  people,  the 
valuation  of  their  property,  and  the  payment  of  direct  tribute, 
as  the  most  shameful  slavery,  and  contrary  to  the  law  which 
required  the  Jews  to  own  no  sovereign  but  God.  By  these 
representations,  which  had  no  real  foundation  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  they  now  raised  a  party,  and  excited  great  commotions. 
These,  however,  were  suppressed,  and  Roman  power  thoroughly 
established.  But  the  doctrine  taught  by  these  men  survived 
as  the  tenet  of  a  considerable  sect ;  and,  long  after  the  time 
of  Gamaliel's  speech,  it  again  broke  out  into  action,  contrib- 
uting much  to  the  disturbances  of  the  nation,  and  to  that 
last  rebellion  against  the  Romans  which  ended  in  that  nation's 
overthrow. 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

MURMURS.— -ACTS  VI.  1-6. 

Although  the  first  converts  to  Christianity  were  all  Jews, 
they  were  Jews  of  two  distinct  classes.  First,  the  natives  of 
Palestine,  who  spoke  the  vernacular  Aramaean  dialect,  and 
including  perhaps  the  Jews  from  the  east,  by  whom  the  same 
dialect  was  in  use  ;  and,  second,  the  western  Jews,  who,  being 
settled  in  the  different  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  gen- 
erally spoke  the  Greek  language.  As  Jews,  there  was  always 
a  sort  of  jealousy  between  these  two  classes,  arising  from  the 
pretensions  to  superiority  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  and  par- 
ticularly those  of  Jerusalem,  on  account  of  their  birth  and 
residence  in  the  Holy  Land,  especially  in  the  Holy  City,  and 

3* 


58  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK THURSDAY. 

because  the  foreign  Jews  could  not  so  accurately  observe  the 
ritual  worship  as  those  living  in  Jerusalem  or  Palestine ;  and 
also,  because  they  used  what  was  still  popularly  regarded  as 
the  holy  language,  being  in  fact  a  dialect  thereof.  This  state 
of  feeling  towards  them  on  the  part  of  the  resident  Jews,  was, 
naturally  enough,  resented  by  the  foreign  Jews,  who,  although 
thev  did  not  despise  the  privileges  on  which  the  others  rested 
their  pretensions,  considered  that  they  were  prized  too  inor- 
dinately, and  formed  no  just  ground  of  religious  distinction. 
In  fact,  from  their  residence  abroad,  where  many  of  them  had 
been  born,  the  local  ties  of  this  religion  were  in  them  con- 
siderably loosened,  and  they  did  not  so  absorbingly  estimate 
the  ritual  observance  with  which,  as  they  were  practicable 
only  at  Jerusalem,  they  were  comparatively  unfamiliar ;  and 
this  state  of  feeling  prepared  them,  better  than  the  native 
Jews,  for  the  reception  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  always  to  be  re- 
membered, that  Judaism  always  was,  and  was  intended  to  be, 
a  local  religion, — confined  to  the  Land  of  Promise  ;  and  such 
a  state  of  difference,  between  those  who  remain  in  and  those 
who  overpass  the  territorial  bounds,  is  inevitable,  under  any 
local  religion. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  conversion  to  Christianity  did  not 
entirely  extinguish  this  state  of  feeling  between  the  two  par- 
ties, making  them  entirely  and  completely  one  in  Christ 
Jesus ;  and  we  now  come  to  a  painful  indication  of  its 
existence. 

The  recent  establishment  of  a  sort  of  universal  hospitality 
among  the  followers  of  Christ,  under  which  the  rich  lay  aside 
the  distinctions  which  wealth  confers,  and  the  poor  were  lib- 
erally supported  from  the  common  fund  which  the  self-denial 
of  the  former  provided,  began  to  be  attended  with  some  diffi- 
culties as  the  numbers  of  the  converts  increased.  Even  the 
apostles  were  embarrassed  by  the  multiplication  of  their  duties, 
which  extended,  not  only  to  the  instruction  of  the  people,  but 
to  the  administration  of  the  secular  business  of  the  commu- 
nity. Negligence  or  partiality  cannot  be  ascribed  to  persons 
whose  motives  were  so  pure  and  spotless  as  theirs  ;  but  it  is 


MURMURS.  59 

clear,  from  a  subsequent  avowal  of  Peter's,  that  they  were  not 
equal  to  all  the  duties  that  grew  upon  them,  and  there  was 
much  danger  that  their  daily  cares  in  the  distribution  of  the 
bread  that  perisheth  to  so  many  claimants,  left  them  too  little 
leisure  for  the  impartation  of  spiritual  food  to  the  hungering 
multitude. 

An  unpleasant  incident  supplied  occasion  for  the  applica- 
tion of  a  wise  and  effectual  remedy  for  this  serious  and  grow- 
ing evil. 

It  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  apostles,  that  "  there  arose 
a  murmuring  of  the  Grecians  against  the  Hebrews  that  their 
widows  were  neglected  in  the  daily  ministration."  It  may  be 
asked  why  the  "  widows,"  in  particular,  should  be  mentioned. 
In  answer  we  may  remark,  that  the  claims  of  widows  to  char- 
itable consideration  are  prominently  produced  in  the  Epistles, 
and  always  engaged  the  special  solicitude  of  the  early  church. 
In  their  case  was  involved  that  of  young  fatherless  children ; 
and  it  was  one  of  peculiar  urgency,  when  their  conversion  cut 
them  off  from  the  aid  of  their  natural  connections.  An  Ori- 
ental widow  so  circumstanced  presents  a  case  of  even  more 
absolute  destitution  than  with  us ;  for,  in  the  East,  any  re- 
sources of  remunerative  occupation  to  a  woman  can  be 
scarcely  said  to  exist ;  and  the  comparatively  secluded  habits 
of  life  which  custom  exacts,  prevent  her  from  pressing  her 
claims  and  wants  upon  the  attention  of  others,  with  that 
vigor  and  effect  which  among  ourselves  a  widow  may  prop- 
erly do.  And  it  may  also  be  observed,  that  widows  then 
were  more  numerous  than  with  us,  as  the  feeling  of  society, 
though  it  did  not  forbid,  or  even  openly  blame,  the  remarriage 
of  widows,  was  decidedly  unfavorable  to  the  second  marriages 
of  women.  Hence  this  consideration  for  the  widows;  and 
the  susceptibility  of  the  Hellenist  converts,  at  the  apparent 
neglect  of  "  their  widows"  in  "  the  daily  ministration." 

It  is  quite  possible  that  there  may  have  been  some  founda- 
tion for  the  complaints  of  the  Hellenist  converts ;  for  where 
the  numbers  to  be  attended  to  were  so  large,  it  may  have 
happened  that  the  least  obtrusive  dependents  on  the  common 


60  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK THURSDAY. 

fund,  kept  back  also  by  the  use  of  a  foreign  language,  might 
be  somewhat  overlooked.  It  will  further  be  observed,  that 
the  "murmurs"  were  not  against  the  apostles,  but  against 
"  the  Hebrews" — probably  the  agents  who  assisted  the  apos- 
tles in  the  distribution — for  it  was  clearly  impossible  that  the 
apostles  could  deal  out  what  was  required  to  every  individual 
with  their  own  hands.  Indeed,  by  the  promptitude  with 
which  they  provided  a  remedy,  the  apostles  seem  to  have  in 
some  measure  admitted  the  grievance,  which  we  are  not  to 
suppose  was  urged  upon  their  attention  with  any  bitterness, 
but  as  an  amicable  representation  of  the  fact. 

The  apostles  convened  the  body  of  the  believers,  and  de- 
clared their  intention  to  abandon  to  other  hands  a  trust  which 
was  already  burdensome,  and  might  become  invidious.  There 
had  been  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  the  disciples,  the 
charge  of  whose  spiritual  interests  was  quite  sufficient  to  en- 
gage their  entire  attention ;  and  if  the  temporal  charge  became 
incompatible  with  the  spiritual,  it  could  not  be  a  question 
which  of  the  two  they  ought  to  forego.  They  had  decided  to 
give  their  whole  time  and  thought  to  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel,  and  to  the  discharge  of  the  spiritual  trust  committed 
to  them.  The  terms  used  are  remarkable, — "  And  we  will 
give  ourselves  continually  unto  prayer,  and  to  the  ministry  of 
the  word."  Here  it  is  seen  that  "  the  ministry  of  the  word" 
is  not  placed  in  the  fore-front  of  their  duties,  and  prayer 
thrown  in  as  the  incident  of  convenient  seasons — but  "  prayer" 
is  placed  in  the  front  as  the  chief  and  primary  matter,  and 
"  the  ministry  of  the  word"  follows  in  the  second  place — per- 
haps as  a  sequel  or  consequence.  By  this,  if  we  like  to  be 
taught,  we  may  learn  that  prayer  holds  no  second  place 
among  our  duties,  or  rather  among  the  qualifying  privileges 
of  useful  service.  Since  all  success  in  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel  is  of  God,  prayer  stands  even  before  effort  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  word ;  if  it  be  not  rather  that  prayer  is  in  itself 
effort — and  effort  of  the  most  prevailing  and  effectual  kind. 

Determined,  therefore,  to  free  themselves  from  the  inferior 
trusts,  which  others  might  discharge  as  effectually  as  them- 


STEPHEN.  61 

selves,  and  to  reserve  all  their  strength  for  their  spiritual  la- 
bors, they  directed  that  the  church  should,  after  due  inquiry, 
select  seven  men  of  exemplary  character,  and  already  in  pos- 
session of  spiritual  gifts  and  graces,  and  present  them  to  the 
apostles,  that  they  might  commit  to  them  the  trust  they  were 
themselves  ready  to  lay  down.  This  course  was  very  accept- 
able to  the  church,  which  in  due  time  made  choice  of  seven 
qualified  persons,  who  were  then  solemnly  set  apart  to  this 
service,  by  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  the  apostles'  hands. 

The  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  this  high  and  honorable 
trust  was  committed,  were  Stephen,  who  is  specially  distin- 
guished by  the  sacred  writer  as  one  eminently  endowed  with 
faith,  and  other  high  gifts  of  the  Spirit ;  Philip,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  more  anon  ;  Prochorus,  Nicanor,  Timon,  Parmenas, 
and  Nicolas,  who  is  noted  as  "  a  proselyte  of  Antioch."  From 
this  it  may  be  surmised  that  none  of  the  others  were  prose- 
lytes ;  but  as  all  their  names  are  Greek,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  they  were  all  Hellenists  ;  that  is,  that,  in  the  fulness  of 
Christian  confidence  and  brotherly  love,  the  whole  seven  had 
been  selected  from  the  body  which  had  felt  itself  aggrieved — 
a  step  which  could  not  fail  to  cut  off  for  the  future  all  grounds 
for  suspicion  or  complaint  against  "  the  Hebrews"  on  the  part 
of  "  the  Grecians." 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

STEPHEN. ACTS    VI.  8-VII.  60. 

The  first  name  in  the  list  of  the  seven  deacons  is,  is  we 
have  seen,  that  of  Stephen ;  and  it  is  to  him  that  the  sacred 
narrative  now  calls  our  attention. 

Although  primarily  appointed  for  a  secular  object,  the  dea- 
cons, in  the  discharge  of  their  special  duty,  frequently  came  in 
contact  with  home  and  foreign  Jews  ;  and  since  men  had  been 
chosen  for  the  office  endowed  with  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
they  possessed  both  the  inward  call  and  the  ability  to  make 


62  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK FRIDAY. 

use  of  their  opportunities  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Jews.  In  these  endeavors  Stephen  remarkably  distin- 
guished himself;  nor  were  miraculous  deeds  wanting  to  attest 
the  authority  of  his  words.  This  soon  awakened  a  fresh  and 
vehement  persecution,  in  which  we  might  feel  some  surprise 
to  find  the  Pharisees  the  active  parties,  notwithstanding  their 
recent  toleration,  did  we  not  closely  examine  the  circumstances. 
The  fact  itself  may  suggest  that  some  fresh,  and  to  them  ab- 
horrent, aspect  of  Christian  teaching  had  been  produced,  which 
had  not  indeed  been  previously  suppressed,  but  which  had  not 
before  been  so  strongly  enforced  upon  their  attention.  If  we 
look  into  the  specimens  of  apostolic  teaching  which  have 
hitherto  occurred,  we  shall  find  it  turn  chiefly  on  this  head — 
that  the  Jewish  rulers  had  incurred  deep  guilt  by  the  rejection 
and  murder  of  Jesus,  whose  Divinity  and  Messiahship  had  now 
been  attested  beyond  all  question  by  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  and  his  ascension  into  heaven,  where  He  sits,  glorified, 
to  bestow  blessings  upon  his  followers,  and  remission  of  sins 
to  the  contrite,  and  whence  He  shall  hereafter  appear  to  judge 
the  world.  But  we  do  not  find  a  word  directly  applicable  to 
the  discontinuance  and  abrogation  of  the  Mosaic  system,  as  a 
thing  that  had  become  old  and  must  pass  away — and  had  al- 
ready, as  a  ritual  system,  lost  all  force  and  binding  obligation, 
by  its  complete  fulfilment  in  Christ.  This  truth  even  the 
apostles  were  slow  to  perceive,  as  we  see  by  the  disputes  which, 
at  a  later  time,  arose  between  Paul  and  Peter  oh  this  very 
subject.  But  such  a  man  as  Stephen,  who  was  in  some  re- 
spects a  harbinger  of  Paul,  had,  as  a  Hellenist,  undoubtedly 
from  the  first  entertained  freer  notions  of  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation,  in  its  relation  to  Christianity,  than  a  Jew  of 
Palestine  could  easily  realize ;  and  therefore  the  Holy  Spirit 
might  the  more  bring  into  his  view  that  aspect  of  Christianity, 
by  which  it  was  to  draw  the  heathen  world  within  the  circle 
of  that  higher  spiritual  life  which  formed  its  essence,  but  which 
necessarily  pre-supposed  the  dissolution  of  the  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem as  a  centre  of  union. 

There  were  at  Jerusalem  a  great  number  of  synagogues, 


STEPHEN.  63 

founded  by  the  foreign  Jews  for  their  own  use  when  at  the 
holy  city,  and  for  that  of  their  sons  who  were  sent  thither  to 
complete  their  education,  and  to  which  schools  and  colleges 
were  in  most  instances  attached.  With  the  members  of  these 
synagogues  Stephen  naturally  came  into  especial  contact,  as 
he,  on  the  assumption  of  his  being  a  Hellenist,  must  have  be- 
longed to  one  of  them.  The  fearless  zeal  with  which  Stephen 
declared  to  them  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  on  points  upon 
which  the  Jewish  mind  was  most  open  to  offence,  and  the 
power  of  argument  and  force  of  eloquence  with  which  he  en- 
forced them,  soon  awakened  the  strongest  opposition  of  some 
of  these  synagogues,  the  members  of  which  united  their  forces 
to  put  him  down — by  dint  of  argument  and  insult,  or,  if  that 
failed,  by  strength  of  hand.  The  synagogues  foremost  in  this 
design  were  those  of  the  Alexandrian  and  Cyrenian  Jews ;  of 
Cilician  Jews — to  which  the  young  Saul  of  Tarsus  then  be- 
longed ;  of  the  Jews  from  Lesser  Asia ;  and  of  the  "  Liber- 
tines." This  last  has  given  occasion  to  some  controversy. 
That  they  belonged  to  some  unknown  city  called  Libertum,  is 
a  conjecture  to  which  no  weight  is  now  attached.  It  is  better, 
and  is  indeed  usual,  to  apprehend  that  it  was  a  synagogue  for 
the  use  of  those  who  wTere  freed-men  ;  that  is,  Jews  and  pros- 
elytes who  had  been  Roman  slaves,  and  had  obtained  their 
freedom,  and  their  descendants.  We  are  no_t,  however,  to 
suppose  that  freed-men  only  were  connected  with  this  syna- 
gogue, any  more  than  that  the  other  synagogues  numbered 
among  their  members  only  men  of  Alexandria,  Cyrene,  or 
Cilicia.  It  is  sufficient  to  understand  that  persons  of  this  class 
preponderated  in  them.  The  young  men  must  have  formed 
an  unusually  large  proportion  of  the  members  of  these  syna- 
gogues, seeing  that  so  many  were  there  engaged  in  their 
studies,  the  adult  members  of  whose  families  were  far  away ; 
and  this  fact,  together  with  the  certainty  that  one  of  Stephen's 
most  active  opponents  did  belong  to  this  class,  warrants  the 
conclusion  that  this  movement  against  Stephen  originated 
among  the  Hellenistic  students,  and  was  conducted  by  them. 
It  was  not  for  this  the  less  formidable.     Jewish  students  were, 


64  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

in  the  essentials  of  student  life  and  character,  the  same  ai 
German,  English,  or  French  students — heady,  reckless,  intol- 
erant, prejudiced,  and  often  ferocious  young  men,  mora 
vehemently  carried  away  by  party  zeal  than  those,  to  whom 
more  extended  years  have  given  broader  views  of  men  and 
things. 

The  first  step  taken  under  these  influences  was,  that  the 
synagogues  put  forward  some  of  their  members,  of  different 
nations,  and  skilled  in  the  subtleties  of  the  later  Jewish  teach- 
ing, to  argue  the  points  in  dispute  with  Stephen.  But  they 
"  were  not  able  to  resist  the  wisdom  and  the  spirit  by  which 
he  spake."  Ashamed  of  being  thus  openly  defeated  by  a  single 
adversary,  and  incensed  that  the  religion  which  they  opposed 
had  thus  received  such  signal  confirmation,  they  suborned  men 
of  profligate  consciences  to  accuse  him  of  blasphemy  before 
the  Sanhedrim ;  and  then  brought  him  tumultuously  before 
the  council,  in  order  to  obtain  a  formal  decree  of  condemnation 
against  him. 

The  precise  accusation  was,  "  That  he  had  spoken  blasphe- 
mous words  against  Moses  and  against  God;"  and  again, 
"  That  he  ceased  not  to  speak  blasphemous  words  against  this 
holy  place  and  the  law :  for  we  have  heard  him  say  that  this 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  shall  destroy  this  place,  and  change  the 
customs  [or  rites]  which  Moses  delivered  us."  This  is  said  to 
have  been  the  deposition  of  false  witnesses.  From  this  it 
does  not,  however,  follow  that  it  was  entirely  a  fabrication  of 
theirs,  but  only  that  they  had  so  colored  and  exaggerated 
what  he  did  say,  as  to  give  it  an  aspect  of  blasphemy  which 
did  not  properly  belong  to ;  though  it  must  be  admitted  that 
even  a  fair  report  of  what  the  teaching  of  his  Lord  authorized 
him  to  declare,  might  have  been  deemed  blasphemous  by  those 
before  whom  Stephen  appeared.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  what  this  holy  man  had  said,  afforded  some  basis  for  the 
misrepresentations  of  the  witnesses ;  for  before  this  time  no- 
thing similar  had  been  advanced  against  the  teachers  of  the 
Christian  doctrine.  Hence  we  may  be  able  to  collect,  that 
what  Stephen  really  did  say  was  to  the  tenor  already  indi- 


STEPHEN.  65 

cated.  It  is  also  observable  that  his  defence  plainly  intimates 
that  he  by  no  means  intended  to  repel  the  accusation  as  alto- 
gether a  falsity,  but  rather  to  acknowledge  that  there  was 
truth  mixed  up  with  it ;  that  which  he  had  really  spoken,  and 
which  was  already  so  obnoxious  to  the  Jews,  he  had  no  wish 
to  deny,  but  only  to  place  what  he  had  stated  in  its  right  con- 
nection, and  to  show  that  it  was  not  open  to  the  charge  of 
blasphemy  which  had  been  laid  against  it.  The  "  blasphemy 
against  Moses,"  of  which  he  had  been  accused,  was  probably 
found  in  his  assertion  that  the  authority  of  Moses  was  inferior 
to,  or  superseded  by,  that  of  Christ.  "  The  blasphemy  against 
God"  may  have  been  involved  in  the  blasphemy  against  Moses, 
inasmuch  as  God  was  the  great  Author  of  that  religion  which 
Moses  had  taught  the  Israelites  by  His  command ;  or  it  may 
have  lain  in  his  ascribing  Divinity  to  one  who  had  lately  suf- 
fered publicly  as  a  malefactor.  "  The  blasphemy  against  the 
holy  place  and  the  law,"  seems  to  have  consisted  in  a  predic- 
tion that  the  temple  was  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  ritual  law 
of  course  abolished. 

When  these  charges  were  set  forth,  with  a  formality  which, 
as  before  that  assembly,  invested  them  with  ominous  purport 
to  the  safety  and  even  life  of  the  prisoner,  every  eye  was  di- 
rected towards  him  to  observe  the  impression  produced  upon 
him,  as  well  as  to  scan  the  personal  appearance  of  one,  con- 
cerning whom  so  much  had  been  lately  said  in  the  city. 
There  he  stood,  serene,  collected,  and  undismayed — if  some- 
thing more  be  not  meant  by  the  declaration  that  "  all  that  sat 
in  the  council  saw  his  face  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  an- 
gel"— words  which  have  led  many,  not  unreasonably,  to  con- 
clude that  it  pleased  God  to  manifest  his  approbation  of  his 
servant  by  investing  his  countenance  with  a  supernatural  and 
angelic  brightness,  such  as  that  with  which  the  face  of  Moses 
shone  when  he  had  been  speaking  with  the  Lord. 

Stephen  in  his  defence  took  a  rapid  and  interesting  survey 
of  Jewish  history  from  the  days  of  Abraham  to  those  of  Solo- 
mon, refuting  the  erroneous  notions  of  the  Jews  concerning 
the  excellence  and  the  permanency  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation, 


66  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK — FRIDAY. 

and  proving  to  them  from  the  records  of  their  own  Scriptures 
that  Abraham  and  the  patriarchs  had  been  chosen  of  God, 
and  had  served  him  long  before  the  Law  was  given  by  Moses, 
and  the  tabernacle  and  temple  were  built ;  that  Moses  him- 
self, commissioned  as  he  was  by  God  to  be  "  a  ruler  and  de- 
liverer" of  the  people  by  whom  he  had  been  previously  "  re- 
fused," and  to  be  the  giver  of  the  Law  to  them,  had  never- 
theless foretold  the  giving  of  a  new  law,  inasmuch  as  he  had 
announced,  "  a  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto 
you  of  your  brethren  like  unto  me  ;  Him  shall  ye  hear."  The 
Law  of  Moses  was  therefore  avowedly  of  a  temporary  nature ; 
and  had  on  many  occasions  proved  insufficient  to  keep  the 
people  to  their  obedience ;  and  the  temple,  like  the  tabernacle 
before  it,  which  had  been  made  by  Divine  command,  and 
after  a  Divine  pattern,  was  but  of  a  transient  and  temporary 
duration,  and  was  of  no  essential  value  in  the  sight  of  God. 
He  then  burst  forth  into  a  strain  of  severe  reprehension,  con- 
demning the  wilfulness  of  their  fathers  in  resisting  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  their  own  hereditary  stubbornness  of  heart,  charg- 
ing their  fathers  with  having  slain  the  prophets  who  had  fore- 
told the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  themselves  with  having 
betrayed  and  murdered  the  Messiah  himself,  thus  rebelling 
against  the  Law  of  which  they  professed  themselves  such  zeal- 
ous maintainers, — a  Law  which  had  indeed  been  delivered  to 
them  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  and  which  the  Messiah  came 
bat  to  perfect  and  fulfil. 

Longer  than  this  the  audience  could  not  endure  to  hear 
him.  They  would  not  suffer  him  to  proceed  with  the  appli- 
cation of  his  arguments.  They  broke  in  upon  his  defence 
with  all  the  signs  of  malice,  rage,  and  fury.  "  They  were  cut 
to  the  heart,  and  they  gnashed  upon  him  with  their  teeth." 
But  he,  regardless  of  their  rage,  and  "  being  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  looked  up  steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw"  the  splen- 
dor of  the  Divine  presence,  and  Jesus  himself — the  crucified 
Jesus — arrayed  in  glory,  and  in  a  posture  of  readiness  to  suc- 
cor and  receive  him.  As  he  saw,  he  spoke  :  "  Behold  I  see 
the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  man  standing  on  the  right 


STONING.  67 

hand  of  God."  Jesus  is  usually  represented  as  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  God  ;  the  difference  here  is  therefore  noticeable, 
as  if  the  glorified  Redeemer  had  risen  from  his  seat  in  sign  of 
his  readiness  to  aid  his  servant. 

If  these  words  do  not  mean  to  assert  the  Divinity  of  Christ, 
they  have  no  meaning ;  and  that  the  Jews  understood  them 
in  this  sense  is  clear,  for,  hearing  in  them  a  confirmation  and 
aggravation  of  the  "blasphemy"  which  he  had  been  before 
accused  of  u  speaking  against  God,"  they  raised  a  tremendous 
outcry,  and  rushing  upon  him  with  one  accord,  cast  him  out 
of  the  city,  and  stoned  him;  thus  inflicting  upon  him  the 
death  which  the  law  awarded  to  blasphemers,  but  not  await- 
ing in  their  tumultuous  impatience  for  blood,  all  the  tedious 
formalities  of  judicial  procedure.  The  last  breath  of  the  holy 
man  was  spent  in  a  prayer  to  Jesus,  first  for  himself,  and  then 
for  his  murderers.  The  words  employed  are  more  remark- 
able than  they  may  seem.  "  They  stoned  Stephen,  calling 
upon  God,  and  saying,  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  The 
word  God  is  not  in  the  original,  but  is  supplied,  and  so  printed 
in  italic  letters.  Omitting  this,  the  passage  may  read :  "  They 
stoned  Stephen,  invocating  and  saying,  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit."  And,  as  the  stones  rained  their  cruel  blows  upon 
his  frame,  he  prayed,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge," 
and  then  he  sank  to  the  ground  in  death ;  and  such  was  the 
composure  with  which  he  yielded  up  his  soul,  under  circum- 
stances so  tumultuous  and  so  terrifying,  that,  as  if  he  had  died 
quietly  upon  his  bed,  the  sacred  historian  says  with  beautiful 
simplicity,  "  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  fell  asleep." 


FORTY-FIRST  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

STONING. ACTS    VII.    58. 

Stoning  to  death  was  the  ordinary  capital  punishment 
among  the  Jews,  just  as  much  as  hanging  is  with  us,  decapi- 
tation in  France  and  Germany,  and  strangulation  in  Spain. 


G8  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK SATURDAY. 

In  the  Law  it  is  assigned  to  such  offenders  as  blasphemers, 
false  prophets,  and  the  like;  but  it  was  not  confined  to  them, 
>ning  is  to  be  understood  wherever  the  punishment  of 
death  is  indicated  without  any  particular  form  being  specified. 
It  is  true  we  read  of  persons  being  hanged  ;  but  that  was  the 
hanging  up  of  the  body  (in  particular  cases  only)  after  death 
had  been  inflicted.  We  also  find  persons  "slain  by  the 
sword ;"  but  this  was  the  punishment  for  military  or  political 
offenders,  sentenced  by  the  sovereign,  just  as  with  us  such 
persons  are  shot  or  beheaded,  while  the  ordinary  death-pun- 
ishment is  hanging.  It  is  noticeable  that  it  is  in  the  deserts 
of  stony  Arabia  we  first  hear  of  this  form  of  punishment, — 
having  been  suggested  probably  by  the  abundance  of  these 
missiles,  and  the  fatal  effect  with  which  they  were  often  em- 
ployed in  broils  among  the  people.  It  seems  a  very  shocking 
form  of  death- punishment,  but  was  less  so  than  it  may  seem. 
Originally,  it  is  likely,  the  people  merely  pelted  the  bound 
criminal  with  the  stones  lying  about,  till  he  died.  But  even 
in  this  crude  form  of  its  infliction,  the  first  stone  that  struck 
the  bared  head  would  generally  close  the  painful  scene. 
Latterly  the  punishment  assumed  a  more  orderly  shape,  and 
was  subjected  to  arrangements,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
bring  the  criminal  to  his  end  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  and 
to  divest  the  punishment  of  a  tumultuary  aspect.  The  par- 
ticulars which  the  Jewish  writers  have  left  us,  describe  a  form 
of  stoning  materially  different  from  the  idea  which  is  usually 
entertained  of  that  punishment,  and  which,  as  existing  in  the 
time  of  Stephen,  deserves  our  attention.  From  these  sources 
we  learn  that  the  manner  of  execution  was  this : — A  crier 
marched  before  the  man  who  was  to  die,  proclaiming  his  of- 
fence, and  the  names  of  the  witnesses  on  whose  testimony  he 
had  been  convicted.  This  was  for  the  humane  purpose  of 
enabling  any  one,  possessing  knowledge  of  the  parties  and  the 
circumstances,  to  come  forward  and  arrest  the  execution  until 
his  further  evidence  had  been  heard  and  considered.  Hence, 
usually,  the  tribunal  which  had  sentenced  the  prisoner,  re- 
mained sitting  to  hear  such  evidence  as  might  thus  be  pro- 


STONING. 


69 


duced,  and  did  not  finally  rise  until  apprized  that  the  execu- 
tion had  taken  place.  The  place  of  execution  was  always  out- 
side the  town — as  was,  until  about  seventy  years  ago,  the 
case  in  London,  the  condemned  being  conveyed  from  New- 
gate* to  Tyburn,  a  distance  of  nearly  three  miles,  for  execu- 
tion. At  this  day  in  Jerusalem,  there  is  a  gate  which  bears 
the  name  of  Stephen,  under  the  belief,  locally  entertained, 
that  it  was  through  the  old  gate  which  this  represents  that 


the  martyr  was  hurried  to  his  death.  The  vicinity  of  this 
gate  to  the  area  of  the  temple  (now  the  mosque  of  Omar),  is 
in  favor  of  this  tradition  ;  and  as  there  is  a  path  leading  di- 
rect from  this  gate  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  we  may 
conclude  that  our  Lord  often  passed  through  it  in  his  way  to 
and  from  the  Mount  of  Olives — at  least  on  the  awful  night  of 
his  agony. 

*  Through  Holborn  aud  Oxford  Street,  to  a  spot  fronting  Hyde 
Park,  not  far  from  the  Marble  Arch,  and  now  a  fashionable  quarter  of 
the  metropolis.  Cunningham,  in  his  Iland-Book  of  London,  says,  "It 
[the  gallows]  stood,  as  I  believe,  on  the  right  of  Connaught  Place, 
though  No.  49,  Connaught  Square,  is  said  to  be  the  spot."  The  change 
to  the  present  practice  of  hanging  the  condemned  just  outside  the 
prison-gate,  was  made  in  1782,  and  was  thus  animadverted  on  by  Dr. 
Johnson,  according  to  Boswell; — "He  said  to  Sir  William  Scott,  '  Tin- 
age  is  running  mad  after  innovation,  and  all  the  business  of  the  wei*lcl 


10  FORTY-FIRST   WEEK SATURDAY. 

Arrived  at  the  place,  the  convict  was  divested  of  his  cloth- 
ing, except  a  small  covering  about  the  loins ;  and  his  hands 
being  bound,  he  was  taken  to  the  top  of  some  eminence — a 
tower,  a  building,  or  a  cliff — not  less  than  twice  a  man's  height. 
When  the  top  was  reached,  the  witnesses  laid  their  hands 
upon  him,  and  then  cast  off  their  upper  clothing,  that  they 
might  be  the  more  ready  for  the  active  exertion  their  position 
imposed, — being  virtually  that  of  executing  the  sentence  which 
had  been  the  result  of  their  evidence.  To  prevent  the  clothes, 
of  which  they  thus  divested  themselves,  from  being  lost,  they 
were  consigned  to  the  care  of  some  friend ;  and  in  the  case 
of  Stephen,  the  executing  witnesses  gave  their  garments  in 
charge  of  "a  young  man  whose  name  was  Saul," — of  whom 
there  will  hereafter  be  much  to  say — and  whose  full  and  hearty 
complicity  in  the  transaction  is  not  only  indicated  by  this  fact, 
but  is  afterwards  expressly  affirmed  in  the  words :  "  Saul  was 
consenting  unto  his  death."  Indeed,  from  the  stress  that  he 
himself,  after  his  conversion,  laid  upon  this  circumstance — 
"  When  the  blood  of  thy  martyr  Stephen  was  shed,  I  kept  the 
raiment  of  them  that  slew  him"  (Acts  xxii.  20) — we  may 
gather  that  that  implied  a  degree  of  active  concurrence  in  the 
deed  only  a  degree  less  than  that  of  the  witnesses ;  and  the 
words  themselves  show,  as  we  now  explain,  that  the  witnesses 
were  also  the  executioners. 

All  being  thus  ready,  one  of  the  witnesses  cast  the  con- 
demned down  from  that  high  place  with  great  violence,  en- 
deavoring to  do  it  so  that  he  should  fall  on  a  large  stone, 
which  was  designedly  placed  below.  This  usually  rendered 
him  insensible,  if  it  did  not  kill  him  ;  but  if  he  was  not  dead, 

is  to  be  done  in  a  new  way  ;  men  are  to  be  hanged  in  a  new  way  ;  Ty- 
burn itself  is  not  safe  from  the  fury  of  innovation.'  It  having  been 
argued  that  this  was  an  improvement — '  No,  Sir,'  said  he,  eagerly, 
'it  is  not  an  improvement.  They  object,  that  the  old  method  drew 
together  a  number  of  spectators.  Sir,  executions  are  intended  to 
draw  spectators.  If  they  do  not  draw  spectators,  they  don't  answer 
their  purpose.  The  old  method  was  most  satisfactory  to  all  parties  ; 
the  public  was  gratified  by  a  procession  :  the  criminal  was  supported 
by  it.     Why  is  all  this  to  be  swept  away  V  " 


STONING.  *71 

those  below  turned  hirn  upon  his  back,  and  then  the  other 
witnesses,  remaining  above,  cast  down  a  large  stone  aimed  at 
the  chest.  This  was  generally  mortal ;  but  it*  not,  the  people 
below  hastened  to  cast  stones  at  him  till  no  life  remained.  In 
this  way  the  execution  was  quickly  over,  and  was  attended  by 
fewer  revolting  circumstances  than  must  have  ensued  from  that 
indiscriminate  pelting  by  the  people,  which  is  commonly  sup- 
posed to  have  constituted  this  form  of  capital  punishment. 
It  would  seem  that  Stephen  rose  from  his  fall  to  his  knees,  and 
in  that  posture  prayed  for  the  forgiveness  of  his  murderers, — 
a  circumstance  which  imparts  an  additionally  touching  em- 
phasis to  his  prayer. 

In  the  narrative  of  our  Lord's  death,  it  is  made  plainly  to 
appear  that  the  Jewish  tribunals  had  no  power  of  inflicting 
the  punishment  of  death  without  the  sanction  of  the  Romans ; 
and  it  may  be,  and  has  been  asked,  how  it  is  that  we  have 
here  what  seems,  at  the  first  view,  a  regular  trial  before  the 
Sanhedrim,  with  the  deposition  of  witnesses,  the  prisoner's 
defence,  and  the  ordinary  capital  punishment  among  the 
Jews  inflicted,  without  any  mention  of  the  Romans.  As  to 
the  trial  merely,  that  is  easily  explained.  The  Jewish  tribunal 
necessarily  tried  the  prisoner  to  find  the  nature  of  his  offence ; 
and  if  they  found  him  guilty  of  a  capital  crime,  they  pro- 
nounced sentence  against  him,  and  reported  it  to  the  Roman 
governor  for  confirmation.  If  confirmed,  the  offender  was 
given  to  them  for  execution  by  their  own  mode  of  stoning, 
unless  the  offence  were  of  a  political  nature,  as  for  sedition, 
when  the  Romans  took  the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and 
inflicted  their  punishment  of  crucifixion.  In  the  case  of 
Stephen,  however,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  trial  even  was 
complete.  But  supposing  that  all  the  forms  of  legal  process 
were  observed,  and  sentence  duly  pronounced,  it  does  not  fol- 
low that  they  did  not  exceed  the  bounds  of  their  authority  in 
carrying  their  own  sentence  into  effect  before  the  Romans 
could  interfere  to  prevent  it.  That  it  is  reported  as  having 
taken  place,  by  no  means  proves  that  the  act  was  legally  per- 
formed.    The  Roman  governor  ordinarily  resided  at  Caesarea^ 


*12  FORTY-FIRST    WEEK SATURDAY. 

and  was  rarely  at  Jerusalem,  except  at  the  great  festivals.  In 
bis  absence  tbey  might  feel  more  at  liberty  to  act  in  carrying 
out  their  own  sentence,  with  little  fear  of  being  afterwards 
called  to  account  on  the  report  of  the  Roman  commandant — 
partly  because  the  Romans  held  cheaply  the  life  of  any  one 
who  was  not  a  citizen  of  Rome,  and  partly  because  the  gov- 
ernor stood  in  fear  of  the  Jewish  authorities  at  this  time,  and 
would  be  likely  to  wink  at  their  proceedings.  There  was  hence 
little  to  deter  them  from  acting  in  this  case,  even  if  the  Roman 
check  upon  their  authority  did  really  exist. 

All  this  is  on  the  supposition  that  the  trial  was  regular,  but 
the  execution  irregular.  But  it  will  rather  appear  that  the 
trial  itself  was  irregular,  and  that  the  judicial  act  was  not 
completed.  There  are,  indeed,  the  witnesses,  and  part  of  the 
prisoner's  defence;  and  here  the  legal  action  stops.  The 
high-priest  does  not,  as  in  our  Lord's  trial,  ask  the  opinion  of 
the  council,  and  then  deliver  sentence  in  accordance  with  their 
views.  We  read  of  no  conference,  no  sentence.  The  defence 
itself  it  interrupted,  by  the  ungovernable  rage  of  those  who 
heard  it ;  and  when  Stephen  declared  that  he  saw  Jesus  stand- 
ing at  God's  right  hand,  they  stayed  to  hear  no  more,  but 
rushed  upon  him,  and  hurried  him  away  to  death.  This  has 
all  the  aspect  of  a  tumultuary  proceeding — a  violent  interrup- 
tion of  that  course  of  action,  by  which  they  purposed,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  reach  a  sentence,  to  be  reported  to  the  Roman 
governor  for  his  sanction.  Indeed,  the  matter  reached  a  point 
at  which  they  might  have  felt  authorized  to  act  without  the 
usual  formalities.  The  words  Stephen  uttered  sounded  in  their 
ears  as  rank  blasphemy ;  and,  when  that  was  the  case,  the 
Jews  seem  always  to  have  been  ready  to  stone  a  man  on  the 
sj>ot  without  any  trial.  There  are  several  instances  of  this  in 
the  Gospels,  which  will  instantly  occur  to  the  reader's  recol- 
lection. A  man  taken  in  the  fact  might  be  punished  out  of 
hand  without  trial ;  and  this  rule  seems  to  have  been  popu- 
larly extended  to  blasphemy.  So,  when  Stephen  uttered  words 
which  seemed  to  them  blasphemous,  they  may  have  felt  there 
was  no  need  of  any  further  trial — the  case  having  become  one 


THE    PERSECUTION.  f3 

for  instant  and  summary  action,  vindicable  even  to  the  Roman 
Governor.  It  certainly  appears  from  the  narrative  that  Stephen 
was  convicted,  less  upon  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses,  than 
upon  that  declaration  of  his  own,  which  made  them  "run 
upon  him  with  one  accord." 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  case  of 
Stephen  to  compel  us  to  abandon  our  previous  conclusion,  that 
the  Jewish  tribunals  had  been  by  the  Romans  divested  of  the 
sovereign  power  of  inflicting  capital  punishment. 


THE    PERSECUTION. ACTS   VIII.  1. 

It  has  always  been,  that  the  ground  on  which  the  fertilizing 
blood  of  a  martyr  has  been  shed,  has  brought  forth  fruit, 
thirty,  sixty,  or  a  hundred  fold.  Nations  have  been  slow  to 
learn  this,  and  have  been  continually  making  the  great  mis- 
take of  supposing,  that  a  great  truth  could  be  quenched  in 
the  blood  of  those  who  upheld  it.  So,  in  this  case,  the  blood 
of  Stephen  cried  from  the  ground  with  a  voice  more  eloquent 
and  persuasive  than  the  accents  of  his  living  tongue  had  been. 
By  showing  that  the  Christian  faith  was  stronger  than  death, 
the  last  resort  of  man's  oppression,  it  ensured  its  triumph ; 
and  thenceforth  every  death,  thus  nobly  and  cheerfully  en- 
dured, where  it  dismayed  one  dastard  spirit,  quickened  a  hun- 
dred noble  hearts,  and  made  them,  or  prepared  them,  to  be 
proselytes.  To  receive  a  manrs  testimony  with  implicit  reli- 
ance, it  is  necessary  to  be  assured  that  he  is  himself  sincerely 
convinced  of  that  which  he  teaches ;  and  to  lay  down  his  life 
for  the  truth  which  he  teaches,  is  the  most  certain  sign  of  his 
sincerity  which  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  give.  His  death 
thus  brings  credit  upon  the  doctrines  he  taught,  as  proclaimed 
by  surviving  teachers. 

In  this  case,  the  ever  active  Pharisees  were   now  on  the 

vol.  iv.  4 


74  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK SUNDAY. 

alert ;  and,  enraged  to  find  that  the  death  of  Stephen  had  no 
effect  in  suppressing  the  new  religion,  the  Sanhedrim,  now 
unanimous  by  the  concurrence  of  the  Pharisees  with  the  Sad- 
ducees,  brought  into  action  all  the  resources  it  possessed,  in  a 
most  rancorous  and  general  persecution  of  the  infant  church — 
the  nature  of  which  may  be  judged  from  the  proceedings  of 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  took  a  most  active  and  violent  part  in  the 
proceedings,  having,  assuredly  at  his  own  application,  been 
specially  commissioned  for  this  work  by  the  Sanhedrim,  who 
doubtless  regarded  with  encouraging  complacency  the  ardent 
zeal  for  Pharisaism  of  this  promising  and  already  distinguished 
young  man.  There  is  indeed  reason  to  suppose  that  he  was 
himself  at  this  time  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim.  Some  think 
that  his  "  consenting"  to  the  death  of  Stephen,  implies  that  he 
was  so  when  the  martyr  was  condemned.  Whether  so  or  not, 
it  is  thought  probable  that  he  was  at  least  afterwards  elected 
into  the  supreme  court  of  judicature,  perhaps  to  recompense 
the  zeal  he  had  shown  against  the  new  doctrines  on  that  occa- 
sion ;  for,  in  referring  to  the  affairs  of  this  time  at  a  later 
period,  he  says  not  only  that  he  exercised  his  powers  by  a 
commission  from  the  high-priest,  but  also  that,  when  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ  were  put  to  death,  he  gave  his  vote  against 
them.  He  could  only  have  given  his  vote  as  one  of  the  San- 
hedrim ;  and  it  may  reasonably  be  doubted  whether  the  very 
important  commission  which  he  subsequently  received,  when 
he  went  to  Damascus,  would  have  been  entrusted  to  any  one 
who  was  not  a  member  of  that  body — his  introduction  into 
which  might  be  materially  promoted  by  the  fact  that  Gama- 
liel, whose  favorite  pupil  he  seems  to  have  been,  was  its 
president. 

Out  of  this  arises  an  important  consideration — that  to  be  a 
parent  was  a  condition  of  admission  to  that  assembly,  because 
those  whose  hearts  were  softened  by  the  paternal  relation  were 
supposed  to  be  more  humane,  more  inclined  to  mercy  than 
others.  Besides,  among  the  Jews  it  was  accounted  scarcely 
reputable  for  a  man  to  remain  unmarried  after  eighteen  years 
of  age;  and  marriages,  in  general  were  very  early.     If,  there- 


THE    PERSECUTION.  75 

fore,  Saul  belonged  to  the  Sanhedrim,  the  probalility  is  that 
he  was  at  this  time  married,  and  the  father  of  a  family.  But 
if  so,  it  would  seem  that  his  wife  and  child,  or  children,  did 
not  long  survive,  for  otherwise  it  is  scarcely  possible  but  some 
allusion  to  them  would  be  found  in  the  subsequent  narrative, 
or  in  the  Epistles ;  and  it  is  clear  that,  if  he  ever  had  a  wife, 
she  was  not  living  when  he  wrote  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Co- 
rinthians.    1  Cor.  vii.  7,  8. 

In  describing  the  proceedings  of  this  man  against  the  Lord's 
disciples,  St.  Luke  says :  "  As  for  Saul,  he  made  havoc  of  the 
church."  How  strong  this  expression  !  He  ravaged  abroad, 
as  a  tiger  hunting  for  his  prey ;  "  entering  every  house,  and 
haling  men  and  women," — separating  the  parent  from  the 
child,  distressing  the  protector  and  the  orphan, — "committed 
them  to  prison,"  whence  probably,  in  many  cases,  death  alone 
delivered  them.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  strong 
language  is  employed  by  one  who  was  in  after  years  the  inti- 
mate friend  and  associate  of  St.  Paul,  and  is  but  an  echo  of 
the  terms  in  which  he  himself  always  speaks  of  this  part  of 
his  career.  In  fact,  that  Saul  was  quite  the  foremost  acting 
man  in  this  persecution,  is  clear  from  all  the  incidents  which 
transpire,  particularly  from  the  high  commission  which  sub- 
sequently acknowledged  and  rewarded  his  service  against 
heresy.  How  widely  and  prominently  his  name  was  con- 
nected with  this  persecution,  appears  from  the  circumstance 
that  Ananias  of  Damascus  had  "  heard  by  many  of  this  man, 
how  much  evil  he  had  done  to  the  saints  at  Jerusalem." 
Acts  ix.  13. 

From  the  cruelties  practised  upon  them,  and  from  the 
efforts  made  to  compel  them,  as  Paul  afterwards  confessed — 
(Acts  xxvi.  11) — "to  blaspheme  that  holy  name  whereby 
they  were  called,"  the  disciples  naturally  fled  in  all  directions, 
probably  at  the  instance  of  the  apostles,  who,  however,  as  the 
governing  body,  felt  it  their  duty  to  face  the  peril  of  remain- 
ing at  Jerusalem,  that  the  dispersed  disciples  might  know 
where  to  apply  for  the  counsel  and  aid  they  might  require 
under  their   altered    circumstances.      Their   departure,   also, 


76  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK — SUNDAY. 

would  have  imparted  too  desultory  a  character  to  the  disper- 
sion, and  might  have  tended  to  render  it  comparatively  un- 
productive (humanly  speaking)  of  the  advantages  which  re- 
sulted from  it. 

These  advantages  were  great — so  great  as  to  open  a  new 
and  advanced  period  of  Christian  history.     In  its  first  epoch, 
over  which  we  have  passed,  the  Christian  society  consisted  of 
Jews  only,  who  had  hitherto  remained  in  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem.    Many,  indeed,  of  those  whoj  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
had  come  thither  from  various  regions,  seem,  after  their  re- 
turn home,  to  have  imparted  to  their  countrymen  some  idea, 
however  imperfect,  of  Christian  doctrine;  yet  its  appointed 
teachers  had  hitherto  remained  within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
nor  had  they  taught  in  any  other  country.     The  congregation 
at  Jerusalem  was,  therefore,  numerous.     But  it  had  not  sepa- 
rated itself  from  the  Jewish  communion ;  for  we  read  that, 
during  all  this  period,  the  apostles  and  all  other  Christians 
yielded  obedience  to  the  Sanhedrim  in  all  matters  not  con- 
trary to  what  they  knew  to  be  God's  will,  and  frequented,  at 
the  stated  hours  of  prayer,  the  temple,  where  the  apostles 
taught.     But  this  persecution  had  a  most  salutary  widening 
influence,  both  externally  and  internally,  upon   the  church. 
Instead  of  confining  the  benefits  of  Christianity  to  the  limits 
of  Jerusalem,  where  its  glorious  Author  had  so  lately  finished 
his  course  upon  earth,  the  believers  of  this  faith,  trained  under 
the  apostles,  and  disciplined  by  adversities,  went  forth  pre- 
pared and  eager  to  make  known  the  truth  in  which  they  be- 
lieved, and   many  of  them  well   qualified   by  natural   and 
acquired  endowments,  and  by  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  to  labor 
effectually  for  its  advancement ;  and  hence  we  shall  soon  see 
Christian  societies  growing  up  in  each  of  the  various  regions 
to  which  they  were  dispersed  abroad.     With  this  outward 
expansion    there   was   a    corresponding    inward   expansion. 
Away  from  Jerusalem  the  disciples  became  more  free  from 
the  trammels  of  Judaism,  and  grew  to  be  increasingly  con- 
scious of  the  independence  of  their  Divine  faith,  and  its  intrin- 
sic sufficiency  as  a  doctrine  destined,  without  foreign  aid,  to 


PHILIP    THE    EVANGELIST.  77 

impart  Divine  life  and  salvation  to  all  men,  among  all  nations 
without  distinction. 

These  were  splendid  results  from  what,  at  the  first  view, 
seemed  so  threatening  as  the  persecution  following  the  death 
of  Stephen.  But  if  there  be  any  circumstance  which  particu- 
larly displays  the  supreme  majesty  of  God,  and  his  controlling 
power  over  the  affairs  of  men,  it  k  when  these  events,  which 
we  ignorantly  call  evil,  and  which  appear  to  us  teeming  with 
destruction,  are  not  only  removed  without  these  accumulated 
horrors  which  we  dreaded,  but  actually  leave  behind  thern  the 
most  beneficial  effects.  Then  are  we  satisfied  that  "  the  Most 
High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men ;"  then  do  we  gratefully 
acknowledge  :  "  This  is  thy  hand,  and  Thou,  Lord,  hast  done 
it." 


FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— MONDAY. 

PHILIP    THE    EVANGELIST. ACTS    VIII.  5-24. 

Although  the  apostles  remained  at  Jerusalem,  the  deacons 
went  away.  The  consideration  already  suggested  concerning 
them,  with  the  vehemency  with  which  one  of  their  number 
had  been  opposed,  and  brought  to  his  death,  render  it  probable 
that  all  of  them  were  special  objects  of  hostile  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  Jews ;  and  as  the  dispersion  of  the  church  left  no 
room  for  the  exercise  of  their  distinguishing  office,  there  was 
no  paramount  duty  to  detain  them  at  Jerusalem.  Whither 
they  went  we  do  not  know,  except  of  one  only  of  their  num- 
ber. This  was  Philip,  whose  name  is  second  (after  that  of 
Stephen)  in  the  list  of  the  deacons,  and  whose  place  is  also 
second  in  the  apostolical  record, — being  in  fact  the  only  one 
of  the  surviving  deacons  whose  name  recurs  in  it,  or  of  whose 
labors  we  have  any  information. 

He  went  to  Samaria,  where,  although  near,  he  was  much 
safer  than  he  would  have  been  in  many  more  distant  places — 
in  Damascus,  for  instance — for  the  Jews  had  no  synagogues  in 


78  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK — MONDAY. 

Samaria,  as  they  had  in  many  heathen  lands ;  nor  had  the 
Sanhedrim  any  influence  or  power  there.  Indeed,  any  at- 
tempt of  theirs  to  exercise  authority  over  any  one  resident  in 
that  territory,  would  have  assuredly  been  deeply  resented  and 
resisted  by  the  Samaritans,  and  might  have  led  to  a  popular 
commotion. 

it  was    not,  however,  from  any  prominent  regard  to  his 
greater  safety  in  Samaria  than  at  other  places  out  of  Judea, 
that  Philip  made  that  province  the  place  of  his  retreat;  the 
hope  of  being  there  of  service  in  his  Master's  cause,  was  doubt- 
less a  prevailing  motive  with  him.     The  place  to  which  he 
went  is  described  as  "  a  city  [not  the  city]  of  Samaria ;"  and 
which  we  take  to  have  been  Shechem  or  Sychar,  and  not  the 
city  of  Samaria  itself,  which  had  been  rebuilt  by  Herod,  and 
to  which  he  had  given  the  name  of  Sebaste,  the  Greek  for 
"  Augustus,"  in  compliment  to  his  patron,  the  emperor  of  that 
name.     This  was  nominally  the  metropolis  of  the  province, 
but  Shechem  was  really  the  more  important  place,  and  the 
chief  seat  of  the  Samaritans.     Here  our  Lord  had  been  in 
person  some  four  years  before ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  there  were  many  among  the  inhabitants  who  retained  a 
lively  recollection  of  that  visit,  by  which,  as  well  as  by  their 
comparative  freedom  from  the  political  prejudices  of  Judaism, 
they  were  in  a  state  of  some  preparedness  for  the  fuller  doc- 
trine which    Philip  was    ready  to  impart.     This  evangelist, 
being,  as  we  have  presumed,  a  Hellenist,  would  also  be  com- 
paratively free  from  those  angry  feelings  towards  the  Samari- 
tans, which  might  have  deterred  a  native  Jew  from  going 
among  them.     He  could  not  but  have  known  of  our  Lord's 
teaching  among  them ;  and  this  must  have  seemed   to  him  a 
sufficient  warrant,  for  offering  the  Gospel  to  a  people  not  rec- 
ognized as  within  the  pale  of  Judaism ;  and  if  he  had  hesi- 
tated, the  recollection  of  our  Lord's  express  order,  just  before 
His  ascension,  for  its  general  diffusion,  must  have  removed  his 
doubts.     This,  however,  was  a  point  on  which  the  apostles 
themselves  did  not  see  their  way  clearly ;  and  to  Philip  may 
be  assigned  the  distinction  of  being  led  by  the  Spirit  to  antici- 


PHILIP    THE    EVANGELIST.  79 

pate  the  conclusions,  to  which  they  were  all  eventually  led  or 
driven. 

The  success  of  Philip  among  the  Samaritans  fully  equalled 
and  probably  exceeded  any  expectations  he  had  formed. 
Very  general  attention  was  paid  to  him  ;  and  very  many  were 
so  deeply  impressed  by  the  doctrine  he  taught,  and  by  the 
signal  miracles  of  beneficence  which  he  wrought  in  confirma- 
tion of  it,  that  they  declared  their  adhesion  to  Christ,  and  re- 
ceived baptism  from  the  hands  of  the  evangelist.  Then  there 
was  "great  joy"  in  the  city;  for  many  of  its  inhabitants  had 
found  that  treasure  of  the  soul,  for  which  there  was  a  general 
craving  at  that  time.  Among  these  converts  was  a  man  who 
had  before  been  held  in  high  reverence  by  the  people  of  the 
place.  His  name  was  Simon,  and  he  is  described  as  one  of 
those  men,  partly  philosopher  and  partly  charlatan,  of  whom 
there  were  many  in  that  age,  who  pretended  to  have,  and  per- 
haps, indeed,  deluded  themselves  into  the  belief  that  they  had, 
a  special  intimacy  and  intercouse  with  the  hidden  spiritual 
world;  and  who,  either  by  aid  of  the  powers  of  darkness 
were  enabled  to  work  real  wonders  in  support  of  their  preten- 
sions, or  by  their  acquaintance  with  secrets  of  natural  science 
now  familiar  to  us,  but  then  known  only  to  adepts,  were  ena- 
bled to  produce  effects  which  astonished  the  uninstructed,  just 
as  the  results  of  electricity  or  chemistry  do  still  in  many  places 
alarm  and  bewilder  the  ignorant.  This  man  had  been  looked 
up  to  with  awe  and  reverence  by  the  people  as  something 
more  than  human,  his  pretensions  being  favored  6y  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time ;  for  the  general  excitement  in  the 
minds  of  men,  and  the  prevalent  longing  for  something  higher, 
to  which  we  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  refer,  led  the 
people  but  too  readily  to  attach  themselves  to  all  such  persons 
who  affirmed  that  they  had  been  favored  with  glimpses  of  the 
spiritual  world.  So  we  see  here  again  the  necessity  of  mira- 
cles— of  such  miracles  as  could,  from  their  nature,  be  subject 
to  no  misinterpretation.  Simon  might  here,  for  instance,  do 
many  wonderful  things,  but  he  could  not  heal  the  sick  and 
dying,  and  restore  strength  to  the  helpless,  as  Philip  did.     He 


80  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK — MONDAY. 

could  astonish  and  perplex  ;  Philip  also  could  astonish,  but  he 
could  do  far  more — he  could,  by  the  beneficent  character  of 
all  his  acts,  re-open  the  springs  of  gladness  in  many  a  forlorn 
heart,  and  send  thankfulness  and  joy  to  many  a  troubled  home. 
These  were  practical  realities;  and  no  wonder  that  Simon 
soon  found  himself  deserted.  He  therefore  seems  to  have 
thought  that  he  might  maintain  his  influence  better  by  an  ad- 
hesion to  the  new  cause,  than  by  any  hostility  to  it.  He  ac- 
cordingly presented  himself  to  Philip,  declaring  his  belief  in 
Christ,  and  was  in  consequence  baptised.  How  far  his  belief 
was  sincere,  or  how  far  simulated,  is  not  for  us  to  say.  We 
know  that  he  was  not  spiritually  converted ;  but  he  may  have 
had  an  historical  belief  in  all  that  Philip  taught  concerning 
Christ,  and  may  have  thought  that  sufficient.  Or  it  may  be 
that  he  regarded  the  works  of  Philip  as  the  results  of  an  art 
simply  higher  than  his  own,  and  of  secrets  to  which  he  had 
not  yet  attained ;  and  he  expected  to  be  able  to  gain  pos- 
session of  them  by  attaching  himself  to  the  unsuspicious 
evangelist. 

Now,  when  the  intelligence  of  this  success  of  Philip  in 
Samaria  reached  Jerusalem,  Peter  and  John  went  thither  to 
promote  and  establish  this  great  work. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  though  the  ordinary  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  of  every 
true  convert,  the  extraordinary  gifts,  as  those  of  speaking 
languages  not  learned,  of  working  miracles,  of  discerning  of 
spirits,  etc.,  could  only  be  imparted  by  the  apostles,  when  not 
spontaneouly  effused,  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  in  the 
house  of  Cornelius.  These  gifts  they  imparted  to  such  as 
seemed  to  them  fit  to  receive  them ;  and  in  this  they  could 
not  well  be  mistaken,  as  they  were  endowed  with  the  faculty 
of  "  discerning  of  spirits,"  that  is,  the  real  spiritual  condition 
of  those  to  whom  their  attention  was  directed.  This  they  did 
by  laying  their  hands  upon  the  heads  of  the  persons  for  whom 
they  sought  these  benefits, — such  being  the  universal  Eastern 
practice  with  those  who  prayed  for  or  invoked  blessings  upon 
another.    The  free  Spirit  of  God  was  not,  however,  bound, 


PHILIP    THE    EVANGELIST.  81 

even  by  the  apostle's  invocation.  He  still  dispersed  his  gifts 
severally  to  every  man  as  He  would — bestowing  upon  him 
that  gift  which  he  was  best  fitted  to  receive  and  exercise  for 
the  benefit  of  the  church.  Still,  unlike  the  spiritual  gifts, 
with  which  all  true  converts  were  enriched,  these  were  mani- 
fest and  palpable  gifts,  and  in  the  eyes  of  a  worldly  man  like 
Simon,  must  have  seemed  of  immensely  greater  importance 
and  value  than  those  simply  spiritual  gifts  and  graces  of  the 
Spirit  which,  although  ostensibly  a  convert,  he  had  not  re- 
ceived, and  was  incapable  of  appreciating.  Seeing,  therefore, 
the  extraordinary  endowments  which  followed  the  imposition 
of  the  apostles'  hands,  he  was  greatly  astonished.  He  meas- 
ured them  by  his  own  standard ;  he  regarded  them  simply  as 
greater  adepts  than  himself,  or  even  Philip,  in  thaumaturgic 
arts ;  and  perceiving  at  a  glance  how  the  possession  of  such  a 
power  as  that  which  they  exercised,  might  be  made  conduc- 
ive to  the  objects  of  his  selfish  ambition,  he  thirsted  to  ob- 
tain it.  He  had  not  approached  near  enough  to  the  apostles 
to  understand  them  thoroughly.  Notwithstanding  the  eclat 
of  his  conversion,  there  was  something  so  mutually  repellent 
between  their  nature  and  his,  that  no  intimacy  had  grown  up 
between  them.  Had  that  been  the  case,  he  would  not  have 
had  the  hardihood,  or  have  committed  the  serious  mistake, 
of  attempting  to  bribe  the  apostles  by  a  sum  of  money — prob- 
ably a  large  sum — to  impart  their  own  power  to  him — not 
simply  the  power  of  speaking  with  tongues,  of  working  mir- 
acles, of  prophesying,  of  discerning  of  spirits — but  the  power 
of  conferring  those  gifts  by  the  imposition  of  his  hands.  The 
audacious  atrocity  and  worldliness  of  this  proposal,  struck  the 
apostles  with  horror  and  amazement ;  and  Peter  gave  free  ut- 
terance to  his  indignant  abhorrence : — "  Thy  money,"  he  said, 
"  perish  with  thee,  because  thou  hast  thought  that  the  gift  of 
God  may  be  purchased  with  money."  He  added,  with  becom 
ing  severity,  that  he  now  perceived  that  Simon  had  "  no  part 
nor  lot  in  the  matter,"  and  that  his  "  heart  was  not  right  with 
Ged,"  and  that  he  was  still,  notwithstanding  his  apparent  ad- 
hesion to  Chri#t  by  conversion  and  baptism,  "  in  the  gall  of 

4* 


82  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK TUESDAY. 

bitterness  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity."  Yet,  seeing  that  Si- 
mon seemed  appalled  at  his  denunciation,  he  added,  less  se- 
verely,— "  Repent,  therefore,  of  this  thy  wickedness,  and  pray 
God,  if,  perhaps,  the  thought  of  thine  heart  may  be  forgiven 
thee."  Nothing  could  more  strongly  manifest  Peter's  estimate 
of  this  infamy  than  the  subjunctive  form  in  which  he  held 
forth  the  possibility  of  pardon.  Simon  felt  this.  The  proud 
spirit  of  the  man,  the  aim  of  whose  life  had  been  to  secure 
the  homage  of  men,  stood  rebuked  before  the  plain-minded 
truthfulness  of  the  Galilean  fisherman.  The  philosophy  of  his 
life  was  at  fault.  Simple  high-toned  Christian  honesty  was  a 
phenomenon  which  he  could  not  well  understand ;  it  threw 
him  sharply  out  of  his  entire  course  of  thought ;  and  perhaps 
for  that  moment  he  was  a  better  man  than  he  had  ever  been 
before,  or  ever  was  after.  Yet,  looking  closely,  fear  seems  to 
have  been  the  paramount  impression.  He  had  doubtless 
heard  of  the  fate  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and  feared  that 
the  apostle  might  inflict  on  the  spot  the  doom  he  seemed  to 
denounce ;  and  when  relieved  from  this  by  the  call  of  repent- 
ance, and  the  reference  of  his  judgment  to  God,  the  words  he 
brought  himself  to  utter  are  less  those  of  contrition  for  his 
offence  than  dread  of  its  punishment : — "  Pray  for  me,  that 
none  of  those  things  which  ye  have  spoken  come  upon  me." 

The  word  "  simony,"  formed  from  this  man's  name,  has  per- 
petuated in  the  church  the  infamy  of  his  thought,  that  "  the 
gift  of  God  might  be  purchased  with  money." 


FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— TUESDAY 

SIMON  MAGUS. ACTS  VIII.  18-24. 

The  Simon  who  is  dismissed  from  sacred  history  with  the 
facts  which  last  evening  passed  under  our  notice,  is  taken  up 
by  ecclesiastical  history  and  tradition,  in  which  he  figures  by  the 
name  of  Simon  Magus.     According  to  this  source  of  informa- 


SIMON    MAGUS.  83 

tion,  his  contact  with  Christianity,  and  the  acquaintance  he 
had  formed  with  its  principles,  were  turned  to  account  for  the 
advancement  of  his  own  objects,  by  a  new  system  of  delusion 
in  which  some  of  its  elements  were,  in  a  more  distorted  shape, 
incorporated  with  something  of  the  later  Judaism,  and  some- 
thing of  the  mythic  philosophy  of  the  East. 

According  to  Justin  Martyr,  Simon  was  a  native  of  Gitton 
in  Samaria ;  and  this  agrees  very  well  with  the  circumstance 
of  our  finding  him  pursuing  his  practice  among  the  Samari- 
tans. There  is  a  tradition  that  he  had  studied  at  Alexandria ; 
and  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  dreamy  theology  of  the 
Alexandrian  schools  will  think  this  not  unlikely,  though  we 
have  no  very  certain  evidence  of  the  fact.  Josephus  speaks 
of  a  Simon  Magus  wdio  was  high  in  the  confidence  of  the 
Roman  governor  Felix,  and  the  subservient  minister  of  his  will. 
Neander  supposes  him  to  have  been  the  same  as  this  Simon. 
But  to  this  it  is  reasonably  objected  that  Josephus  makes  his 
Simon  a  native  of  Cyprus  by  birth  ;  whereas  Justin,  who  was 
himself  a  native  of  Shechem  in  Samaria,  and  had  every  op- 
portunity of  knowing  the  native  country  of  Simon,  declares 
him  to  have  been  a  Samaritan,  and  could  have  no  possible  in- 
terest in  misrepresenting  the  truth.  Besides,  Felix  lived  too 
late  to  allow  it  to  be  supposed  that  Simon  Magus  could  still 
be  actively  engaged  in  those  regions  where  he  was  procurator  ; 
for  Simon  seems  to  have  early  left  the  East,  and  to  have  be- 
taken himself  to  Rome,  the  rendezvous  for  all  deceivers  of  this 
kind.  This  Justin  affirms  ;  but  what  he  does  say,  in  his  First 
Apology,  is  so  interesting,  and  has  excited  so  much  discussion, 
that  we  may  give  it  entire. 

"  After  the  return  of  Christ  to  heaven,  the  demons  put  forth 
certain  men,  calling  themselves  gods ;  who  not  only  were  not 
persecuted,  but  honored  by  you.  Such  was  Simon,  a  certain 
Samaritan,  who,  during  the  reign  of  Claudius  Caesar,  having 
performed  magical  works,  through  the  art  and  power  of  de- 
mons, in  your  imperial  city  of  Rome,  was  accounted  a  god, 
and  has  been  honored  by  you  with  a  statue  as  a  god,  which 
statue  has  been  erected  by  you  in  an  island  in  the  Tiber,  be- 


84  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK TUESDAY. 

tween  the  two  bridges,  with  this  inscription  in  Latin — Simoni 
Deo  Sancto ;  and  almost  all  the  Samaritans,  and  a  few  also 
among  other  nations,  acknowledge  and  worship  him  as  the 
First  God." 

Recurring  to  the  subject  afterwards,  Justin  says :  "  As  I 
have  before  said,  Simon  being  with  you  in  the  imperial  city 
of  Rome,  during  the  reign  of  Claudius  Caesar,  he  so  astonished 
and  deluded  the  sacred  senate  and  the  Roman  people  as  to  be 
accounted  a  god,  and  to  be  honored  with  a  statue,  as  the  other 
gods  are  honored  by  you.  Whence  I  beg  that  you  [the  em- 
peror, or  the  emperor  and  the  Csesars]  would  make  the  sacred 
senate  and  your  people  acquainted  with  this  our  supplication ; 
so  that  if  any  one  be  entangled  in  his  doctrines,  he  may  learn 
the  truth,  and  be  able  to  escape  from  error.  And  if  it  be 
your  pleasure,  let  the  statue  be  destroyed." 

This  statement  has  been  repeated  by  several  of  the  fathers ; 
but  it  has  of  late  been  generally  supposed  that  Justin  was 
misled  in  this  by  his  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  Latin 
language  and  mythology,  and  mistook  a  statue  to  the  Sabine 
deity,  Semo  Sancus,  for  one  to  Simon — a  conclusion  which 
has  been  conceived  to  be  much  confirmed  by  a  piece  of  marble 
having  been  found  in  an  islet  of  the  Tiber,  actually  bearing 
the  inscription  (possibly,  it  was  thought,  the  very  same  that 
Justin  saw),  Semoni  Sanco  Deo  Fidio  Sacrum. 

The  late  learned  Dr.  Burton,  however,  in  his  work  on  the 
Heresies  of  the  Apostolic  Age,  urged  some  reasons  against  the 
supposed  certainty  that  Justin  had  been  mistaken  ;  and  more 
lately,  Professor  Norton  of  New  York  has  so  investigated  the 
subject,  as  to  leave  strong  grounds  for  doubt  whether  Justin's 
story  may  not  have  been  too  readily  set  aside.  Justin,  at  the 
distance  of  a  hundred  years,  may  have  been  in  some  error  as 
to  the  circumstances  attending  the  erection  of  the  statue,  and 
nothing  more  need  be  understood  than  that  it  was  set  up  with 
the  sanction  of  the  emperor, — in  whose  reign,  indeed,  it  is 
known  that  a  decree  was  issued  which  rendered  it  impossible 
that  a  public  statue  should  be  erected  without  that  sanction. 
It  ig,  however,  little  likely  that  Justin  should  have  committed 


SIMON    MAGUS.  85 

a  blunder  so  egregious  as  to  what  he  had  actually  seen ;  and 
if  he  had,  it  is  still  less  likely  but  that  it  would  have  been 
pointed  out,  before  presentation,  by  some  friend  capable  of 
correcting  the  error  in  a  public  document  like  the  Apology,  in 
which  the  whole  body  of  the  Christians  were  interested.  Or 
if  it  had  been  presented  with  this  blunder  in  it,  the  laughter 
and  derision  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  at  the  ignorance 
of  the  apologist,  must  have  made  the  fact  known,  and  would 
effectually  have  prevented  its  being  repeated  for  two  hundred 
years  by  others,  to  some  of  whom  it  is  almost  certain  that 
the  mistake,  if  any  existed,  must  have  become  known.  Be- 
sides, the  inscription  on  the  marble  is  less  likely,  than  seems 
at  first  view,  to  have  been  thus  mistaken  by  a  man  even  more 
ignorant  than  Justin  is,  upon  this  hypothesis,  unjustly  supposed 
to  have  been  ;  for  the  words  cited  are  followed  by  others  ex- 
pressing the  name  (Sextus  Pompeius)  and  titles  of  the  person 
by  whom  it  was  dedicated.  It  is  far  from  extraordinary  that 
there  should  be  two  inscriptions,  one  to  Semo  Sancus,  and  an- 
other to  Simon  in  this  place.  We  know  the  city  swarmed 
with  statues  and  inscriptions ;  and  Semo  Sancus  was  an  an- 
cient well-known  god,  who  had  a  temple  on  the  Quirinal  Hill, 
and  to  whom  there  were  several  inscriptions  in  the  city.  Three 
besides  this  one  have  actually  been  found,  and  more  are  prob- 
ably buried  in  the  soil ;  and  this  reduces  the  singularity  of 
the  coincidence  that  one  should  be  found  in  the  same  island 
of  the  Tiber  where  Justin  saw  the  statue  of  Simon.  With 
regard  to  the  fact  of  its  existence,  with  which  alone  we  are 
concerned,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  supposing  it  to  have  been 
erected  at  Rome  by  some  of  Simon's  followers ;  nor  is  there 
anything  to  render  it  improbable  that  they  might  have  ob- 
tained liberty  to  set  up  a  statue  of  his  in  Rome  exposed  to 
public  view.  The  deification  of  contemporaries  after  death 
was  common  in  that  age.  The  examples  of  it  in  the  apotheoses 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  and  of  those  to  whom  they  extended 
the  honor,  must  be  familiar  to  every  one.  There  is  a  more 
affecting  illustration  of  the  common  conceptions  concerning 
it,  in  the  intention  of  Cicero  to  deify  his  beloved  daughter 


86  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK TUESDAY. 

Tullia,  and  to  erect  a  temple  to  her  memory.  Similar  honors 
are  said  to  have  been  rendered  at  Parium  to  Alexander  the 
Paphlagonian  and  to  Peregrinus  Proteus,  impostors  of  the 
same  class  with  Simon ;  and  at  Troas  to  a  certain  Neryllinus, 
of  whom  we  know  nothing  except  that  he  was  probably  of 
like  character.  The  more  noted  charlatan  Apollonius  of 
Tyana  was  also  regarded  as  a  god,  and  thought  worthy  to  have 
temples  built  for  his  worship.  But  it  is  indeed  quite  unneces- 
sary to  adduce  these  facts,  since  there  is  no  reasonable  ques- 
tion that  Simon  was  adored  as  a  god,  or  as  God,  by  his  fol- 
lowers, and  therefore  no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  might 
have  erected  a  statue  to  him  with  the  inscription  recorded. 

Eusebius  reports  that  Simon  continued  at  Rome  in  the  en- 
joyment of  great  reputation  until  the  reign  of  Nero,  when  his 
popularity  was  seriously  endangered  by  the  arrival  of  Peter ; 
and  later  writers  give  a  wonderful  legend  of  his  destruction  at 
the  prayer  of  the  apostle,  joined  to  that  of  Paul,  when,  in  a 
last  violent  effort  to  sustain  his  drooping  credit,  he  attempted 
to  fly,  with  the  pretence  of  ascending  to  heaven  as  Christ  had 
done.  If  he  did  this,  it  scarcely  needed  any  miracle  that  he 
should  fall  to  the  ground  and  break  both  his  legs,  as  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  done.  It  is  added  that  he  was  carried  to 
Brindes,  where,  being  overwhelmed  with  shame  and  grief  at 
his  defeat  and  disaster,  he  committed  suicide  by  casting  him- 
self from  the  roof  of  the  house  in  which  he  lodged.  This  may 
perhaps  be  connected  with  the  anecdote  which  we  find  in 
Seutonius  of  a  man  who  attempted  to  fly  in  presence  of  the 
emperor  Nero,  but  who  fell  to  the  ground  with  such  violence 
that  his  blood  spirted  up  to  the  gallery  in  which  the  emperor 
sat. 

As  reported  to  us,  the  doctrines  taught  by  Simon  resembled 
those  of  the  Gnostics,  of  which  remarkable  sect  he  is  indeed 
described  as  the  founder ;  and  the  accounts  wThich  are  given 
of  his  later  pretensions,  however  extravagant  they  appear,  cor- 
respond with  the  intimation  of  the  sacred  historian,  that  even 
before  his  acquaintance  with  Christianity,  he  "  gave  himself 
out  to  ba  some  great  one,"  and  led  the  Samaritans  to  regard 


SIMON    MAGUS.  8Y 

him  as  "the  great  power  of  God."  It  appears,  then,  that 
eventually,  when  he  had  digested  his  views  into  something  of 
a  system,  he  claimed  to  be  nothing  less  than  the  incarnate 
God,  and  as  such  became  an  object  of  worship  to  his  followers. 
His  deity  consisted  of  certain  iEons,  or  persons,  all  of  which, 
collectively  and  severally,  he  declared  to  be  manifested  in 
himself.  Hence  he  professed  to  appear  as  the  Father  in  re- 
spect to  the  Samaritans,  as  the  Son  in  respect  to  the  Jews,  and 
as  the  Holy  Ghost  in  respect  to  all  other  religions ;  but  that 
it  was  indifferent  to  him  by  which  of  these  names  he  was 
called.  According  to  Jerome,  he  declared  of  himself:  "I  am 
the  Word  of  God ;  I  am  the  Perfection  of  God ;  I  am  the 
Comforter ;  I  am  the  Almighty ;  I  am  the  whole  Essence  of 
God."  He  taught  no  doctrine  of  atonement,  and  denied  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  but  admitted  the  future  existence,  if 
not  the  immortality,  of  the  soul.  He  did  not  require  purity 
of  life ;  but  taught  that  actions  were  in  themselves  indifferent, 
and  that  the  distinction  of  actions  as  good  or  evil  was  a  delu- 
sion taught  by  the  angels  to  bring  men  into  subjection.  He 
carried  about  with  him  a  beautiful  female  named  Helena, 
whom  he  set  forth  as  the  first  Idea  of  Deity,  and  who,  in  con- 
sequence, was  also  worshipped  by  his  followers.  These  blas- 
phemous and  pernicious  tenets  sufficiently  indicate  the  char- 
acter of  his  teaching ;  but  it  may  be  doubtful  how  much  of 
this  is  to  be  literally  interpreted,  or  how  much  to  be  viewed 
in  the  light  of  the  highly  allegorical  character  of  all  Eastern 
teaching  in  his  day ;  and  to  which,  therefore,  the  beautiful 
simplicity  of  the  Christian  system  and  teaching,  presents  the 
most  striking  and  effectual  contrast.  The  only  certain  thing 
is,  that  Simon  was  a  great  impostor,  although  he  may  also  to 
some  extent  have  been  a  self- deceiver. 


88  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE  ETHIOPIAN  EUNUCH. ACTS    VIII.  26-40. 

When  Philip  had  finished  his  high  work  in  Samaria,  he 
received  a  Divine  intimation  that  his  services  were  required 
elsewhere.  The  message  was,  "Arise,  and  go  towards  the 
south,  unto  the  way  that  goeth  down  from  Jerusalem  unto 
Gaza,  which  is  desert."  This  last  clause  has  perplexed  inquiry 
until  lately,  and  various  fanciful  interpretations  have  been  of- 
fered. The  difficulty  arose  from  the  fact,  that  although  Gaza 
had  been  destroyed  ninety-six  years  before  Christ,  by  Alexan- 
der Jannaeus,  it  had  subsequently  been  rebuilt,  with  other  cit- 
ies, by  the  Roman  general,  Gabinius,  and  was  again  laid  in 
ruins  thirty  years  after  the  present  transaction.  Thus  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  it  could  well  be  "  desert "  at  that  time.  To 
obviate  this  difficulty,  it  has  been  supposed  that  "  the  express- 
ion in  the  book  of  Acts,  which  might  at  first  appear  to  imply 
that  Gaza  was  then  '  desert,'  is  more  probably  to  be  referred 
to  the  particular  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza  on  which  the 
Evangelist  was  to  find  the  eunuch,  viz.,  the  southern  road  lead- 
ing from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza  through  the  '  desert,'  a  region 
without  villages,  as  is  the  case  at  the  present  day."*  All  this 
conjecture  has  been  superseded  by  one  of  the  most  interesting 
practical  discoveries  of  Dr.  Keith  in  Palestine,  that  the  site  of 
old  Gaza  is  at  some  distance  from  that  of  the  later  Gaza,  and 
lies  completely  desert — buried  in  the  sand ;  and  by  the  cita- 
tions from  ancient  authors,  who  make  distinct  mention  of  "  new 
Gaza,"  as  distinguished  from  "  desert  Gaza."f 

The  object  of  this  mission  does  not  seem  to  have  been  dis- 
closed to  Philip,  but  he  immediately  departed,  knowing  that 
further  light  would  be  given  him  when  it  should  be  needed. 
On  his  way  to  the  place  indicated,  or  on  his  arrival  there,  his 

*  Kobinson's  Researches,  ii.  380. 

\  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  p.  3*76,  Ed.  36th,  1848.  See,  also,  Daily 
BibU  Illustrations,  Evening  Series,  Twenty-Sixth  Week — Tliwsday. 


THE   ETHIOPIAN    EUNUCH.  89 

attention  was  attracted  by  a  travelling  chariot,  in  which  sat  a 
person  who  was  reading  as  he  rode.  The  dress  and  equipage 
of  this  person,  as  well  as  his  attendance  and  escort,  indicated 
the  stranger  to  be  a  man  of  high  rank  and  station.  He  was, 
in  fact  no  other  than  "  a  man  of  Ethiopia,  an  eunuch  of  great 
authority  under  Candace,  queen  of  the  Ethiopians,  who  had 
the  charge  of  all  her  treasure,  and  had  come  to  Jerusalem  for 
to  worship."  We  need  not  understand  with  the  painters,  that 
this  great  lord  was  a  negro.  Ethiopia  was  a  term  vaguely 
applied  to  any  countries  beyond  the  range  of  Southern  Egypt 
and  Africa,  and  even  to  Southern  Arabia.  Here  we  know  that 
it  designates  the  kingdom  of  Meroe  in  Upper  Egypt,  which 
Pliny  informs  us  was  governed  by  queens  who  all  bore  the 
name  of  Candace  as  a  title  of  office.  This  is  a  curious  and 
interesting,  because  incidental,  corroboration  of  the  statement 
of  the  sacred  writer,  while  it  at  once  points  to  the  locality 
from  which  this  great  officer  had  come,  and  to  which  he  was 
returning.  It  does  not  follow,  from  his  being  "a  man  of 
Ethiopia,"  that  he  was  a  native  Ethiopian,  but  simply  that  he 
was  resident  there,  and  came  therefrom.  If  so,  he  was  "  a 
proselyte  of  righteousness,"  as  it  was  called,  to  tlie  Jewish  re- 
ligion— easily  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  many  Jews  spread 
themselves  from  Egypt  southward  into  Meroe  and  beyond,  in 
which  quarter  Judaism  had,  indeed,  made  considerable  pro- 
gress. This  fact  may  even  suggest  the  probability  at  least, 
that  the  man  was  of  Jewish  descent ;  for,  from  their  aptitude 
for  affairs,  especially  money  affairs,  Jews  often  rose  to  high  dis- 
tinction in  foreign  courts — just  as  that  at  present  in  Moslem, 
and  indeed  in  Christian  countries,  the  court  banker  is  often  a 
Jew.  What  strengthens  this  probability  is,  that  this  person- 
age appears  to  have  been  reading  the  scriptures  in  Hebrew — 
a  qualification  not  possessed  by  foreign  converts  to  Judaism. 
He  might,  indeed,  have  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  Greek 
translation  then  current,  and  it  is  not  altogether  certain  that 
he  did  not ;  but  when  it  is  said,  "  The  place  of  the  Scripture 
which  he  read,"  etc.,  there  seems  in  the  original  to  be  an  allu- 
sion to  a  division  of  the  Old  Testament  for  public  reading, 


90  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

which  had  been  introduced  into  the  Hebrew  copies,  but  not 
into  the  Greek  translation.  Persons  who  were  really  eunuchs 
could  not  enter  into  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  (Deut.  xxiii. 
1) ;  and  as,  therefore,  this  personage  had  been  at  Jerusalem  to 
worship,  probably  at  one  of  the  great  festivals,  the  term  is 
doubtless  to  be  understood  in  its  acquired  sense,  frequent  in 
Scripture,  in  which  it  designates  any  great  officer  of  state. 

The  probabilities  seem,  therefore,  to  be  that  this  "  man  of 
Ethiopia  "  was  a  descendant  of  Abraham,  who  had  risen  to 
high  employment  in  Meroe,  and  who  on  this  occasion  had  in- 
dulged his  pious  zeal  in  the,  to  him,  rare  satisfaction  of  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  holy  city  at  one  of  the  seasons  of  high  festival. 

Philip  could  see  that  the  traveller  was  reading,  but  was  not 
near  enough  to  hear  what  he  read.  A  divine  impulse,  how- 
ever, directed  him  to  draw  nearer  to  the  chariot,  and  then  he 
heard  that  it  was  the  famous  passage  respecting  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  in  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah,  that  he  was  read- 
ing. With  us  it  is  so  adverse  to  cultivated  habits,  to  read 
aloud  to  one's  self,  that  some  commentators  have  imagined 
that  there  was  a  person  in  the  chariot  reading  to  the  Ethiop- 
ian eunuch.  But  the  text  expressly  and  repeatedly  states 
that  he  was  himself  reading;  and  that  he  gave  a  loud  oral  ut- 
terance to  that  wThich  he  read,  is  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
existing  habits  of  the  Orientals  when  reading  privately  for 
their  own  edification,  and  without  any  particular  intention  of 
being  heard  by  others,  though  certainly  without  any  dislike 
of  being  heard  by  any  whom  their  voice  may  happen  to  reach. 
Mr.  Jowett  well  describes  this  in  his  Christian  Researches  : 
"They  usually  go  on  reading  aloud,  with  a  kind  of  singing 
voice,  moving  their  heads  and  bodies  in  tune,  and  making  a 
monotonous  cadence  at  regular  intervals — thus  giving  empha- 
sis, although  not  such  emphasis  as  would  please  an  English 
ear.  Very  often  they  seem  to  read  without  perceiving  the 
sense  ;  and  to  be  pleased  with  themselves,  because  they  can 
go  through  the  mechanical  art  of  reading  in  any  way." 

With  us  a  dusty  foot  traveller,  like  Philip,  would  scarcely 
think  of  accosting  a  grand  lord  riding  "by  in  his  chariot,  and 


THE    ETHIOPIAN    EUNUCH.  91 

pre-occupied  in  reading.  But  the  customs  of  the  East  are  dif- 
ferent ;  and  Philip  was  not  regarded  as  guilty  of  any  imperti- 
nence, when  he  freely  asked  the  great  man  if  he  understood 
what  he  was  then  reading.  On  the  contrary,  the  grandee, 
impressed  by  the  earnestness  of  tone  and  manner  with  which 
Philip  put  the  question,  answered  with  a  real  interest  and  a 
touching  simplicity  which,  together  with  the  fact  of  his  being 
thus  engaged  in  reading  the  Scriptures  while  upon  a  journey, 
give  us  the  most  favorable  impression  of  his  character — "  How 
can  I,  unless  some  man  should  guide  me  ?"  Then,  perceiving 
from  Philip's  responsive  look  to  this  candid  confession  and  in- 
quiry, that  he  was  able  to  afford  the  guidance  he  desired,  he 
begged  him  to  come  up  into  the  chariot  and  sit  with  him. 
Having  him  there,  the  treasurer  hastened  to  point  out  the 
passage  that  most  perplexed  him,  and  which  was  indeed  that 
which  Philip  had  heard  him  read : — "  He  was  led  as  a  lamb 
to  the  slaughter ;  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb, 
so  he  opened  not  his  mouth.  In  his  humiliation  his  judgment 
was  taken  away ;  and  who  shall  declare  his  generation  ?  for 
his  life  is  taken  from  the  earth."  Now,  said  the  eunuch,  lay- 
ing his  finger  upon  the  place,  "  Doth  the  prophet  speak  this 
of  himself,  or  of  some  other  man  ?"  Then  Philip  proceeded 
to  explain  it.  He  showed  him  that  it  was  a  prophecy  respect- 
ing the  Messiah  whom  the  Jews  had  expected  so  long ;  and 
that  it  applied  exactly  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who,  in  the  days 
of  his  humiliation,  was  grievously  afflicted,  but  was  eminently 
meek  and  patient  under  all.  And  so  he  went  on  preaching 
Christ  crucified;  and  as  the  mystery  of  man's  redemption 
gradually  opened  to  the  astonished  view  of  the  eunuch,  his 
heart  was  filled  with  holy  rapture  and  gratitude,  and  he  longed 
to  enrol  himself  under  the  banner  of  that  King  whose  realm 
wTas  not  of  this  world.  From  Philip's  discourse  he  had  gath- 
ered that  this  was  to  be  accomplished  by  the  sign  of  baptism ; 
and  when>  therefore,  as  they  rode  along,  a  stream  of  water 
was  reached,  he  cried  out  with  eagerness,  "  See,  here  is  water ! 
"What  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?"  Philip  answered, 
"If  thou  believest  with  all  thine  heart,  thou  mayest."     On 


92  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK — THURSDAY. 

which  the  other,  with  solemn  earnestness,  declared,  "  I  believe 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God" — not  only  that  Jesus 
was  the  Christ,  a  Messiah,  but  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God, 
and  as  such  able  to  pardon  sin,  and  mighty  to  subdue  it. 
Philip  being  satisfied  with  this,  the  chariot  was  stayed,  and 
the  two  went  down  together  into  the  water,  where  the  evangel- 
ist baptised  his  illustrious  convert ;  and  no  sooner  was  this 
done,  than  the  baptizer  miraculously  disappeared,  and  the 
eunuch  saw  him  no  more.  But  this  tended  to  strengthen, 
rather  than  to  weaken,  the  convert's  faith ;  and  instead,  there- 
fore, of  attempting  to  search  for  or  follow  the  evangelist,  he, 
perceiving  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  they  should  be  sepa- 
rated, mounted  his  chariot,  and  "  went  on  his  way  rejoicing" 
— rejoicing  in  the  great  light  which  had  shone  in  upon  his 
darkness — rejoicing  in  that  sweet  tranquillity  of  mind  which 
the  new  knowledge  of  the  gospel  of  Christ's  salvation  could 
not  fail  to  impart. 

The  conversion  of  a  man  of  the  eunuch's  high  standing 
was  probably  attended  by  some  signal  results  in  the  country 
to  which  he  returned  ;  and  although  history  has  left  no  record 
of  such  results,  the  great  day  of  disclosures  will  doubtless 
make  them  known. 


FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

SAUL    OF   TARSUS. ACTS   IX.  1. 

The  history  now  again  turns  to  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  hence- 
forth is  chiefly  engaged  in  the  relation  of  his  proceedings. 
As  therefore  this  personage  is  the  prominent  figure  in  the  re- 
mainder of  this  volume,  it  may  be  well  to  look  back  slightly 
into  the  antecedents  of  his  career. 

It  is  clear  that  the  family  of  Saul  were  Hellenists,  understood 
as  Jews  speaking  the  Greek  language ;  but  not  Hellenes,  or 
Greeks   converted  to   Judaism.     How  long  the  family  had 


SAUL    OF   TARSUS.  93 

been  in  this  position — that  is,  how  long  it  had  been  settled  in 
a  foreign  land,  we  do  not  know ;  but  the  aggregate  impression 
made  by  facts  separately  few  and  slight,  is,  that  the  family  had 
not  been  for  less  than  two  or  three  generations  absent  from 
Palestine.  That,  although  thus  dwelling  in  a  strange  land  and 
speaking  a  strange  tongue,  the  family  maintained  the  purity 
of  its  Hebrew  descent  and  of  its  Hebrew  ideas,  is  clear  from  the 
way  in  which  Saul  speaks  of  himself  and  his  ancestors, — "  Are 
they  Hebrews  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  Israelites  ?  so  am  I.  Are 
they  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  so  am  I."*  So  that,  as  elsewhere 
he  contends  that  he  was  not  behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the 
apostles,  he  would  show  that,  although  a  Hellenist,  he  was  in 
none  of  those  things  of  which  they  boasted  behind  the  chiefest 
of  the  Jews.  Aware  of  the  importance  of  taking  this  position, 
he  fails  not,  on  every  proper  occasion,  to  insist  upon  it.  Else- 
where he  declares  that  he  was  "  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin — a  Hebreio  of  the  Hebreim?\  This  last 
was  a  very  proud  distinction  among  the  Jews,  as  it  denoted 
one  who  was  a  Hebrew  by  both  parents,  and  that  by  a  long 
series  of  ancestors,  without  any  admixture  of  foreign  or  prose- 
lyte blood.  In  the  same  sense,  and  with  an  equal  feeling  of 
dignity,  the  Bedouin  at  this  day  will  boast  that  he  is  "  an  Arab 
of  the  Arabs."  Usually,  persons  of  the  same  nation  dwelling 
in  a  foreign  country,  learn  to  merge  the  special  and  sectarian 
differences  maintained  in  their  native  land.  But  Saul  informs 
us  it  was  not  so  in  his  famiiy ;  not  only  was  it  in  the  highest 
sense  Jewish,  but  it  stood  upon  the  principles  and  practice  of 
the  then  most  orthodox  Jewish  sect, — he  was  "  a  Pharisee,  the 
son  of  a  Pharisee."|  In  standing  by  birth,  he  was  a  Hebrew 
of  the  Hebrews ;  in  standing  by  training,  he  was  a  Pharisee 
of  the  Pharisees.  The  fact  that  his  father  was  a  Pharisee — 
the  sect  of  all  others  most  suspicious  of  and  most  opposed  to 
the  influences  of  Grecian  culture,  would  alone  suffice  to  indi- 
cate that  his  early  training  was,  as  far  as  possible,  Jewish ; 
and  that  the  acquaintance  he  afterwards  evinces  with  Greek 
literature,  Greek  customs  and  Greek  ideas,  rather  arose  from 
*  2  Coi.  xi.  22.  \  Phil.  iii.  5.  \  Acts  xxiii.  6. 


94  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK THURSDAY. 

the  accidents  of  his  position  than  from  distinct  iustruc 
The  knowledge  of  such  matters  which  we  acquire  in  scIlxm  j, 
must  have  grown  into  the  living  knowledge  of  an  observant 
and  intelligent  youth,  to  whom  Greek  was  the  native  tongue, 
who  was  born  and  grew  up  in  a  Greek  city  whose  very  air  was 
redolent  of  Greek  notions  and  Greek  literature,  and  who  had 
the  habits  of  Greek  life  and  religion  daily  before  his  eyes. 

Of  Saul's  father,  we  only  know  that  he  was  a  Pharisee,  and 
that  he  must  have  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  a  Roman  citizen, 
seeing  that  his  son  held  those  high  privileges  in  right  of  his 
birth,  being  "  free-born."  His  mother  is  never  mentioned  or 
alluded  to,  which  may  suggest  the  possibility  that  she  died  soon 
after  his  birth.  He  had,  however,  a  sister — probably  older 
than  himself,  for  her  son  had  grown  to  manhood  when  Paul 
was  still  of  middle  age.*  He  names  also  several  of  his  kindred, 
male  and  female — Andronicus  and  Junia ;  Herodion,  Lucius, 
Jason,  and  Sosipaterf — all  of  them  converts  to  Christ,  and 
converted  probably  through  him.  It  is  interesting  to  learn 
that,  so  far  as  we  do  know,  he  had  not  to  encounter  the  oppo- 
sition of  his  kindred,  but  obtained  their  concurrence  and  sup- 
port. Andronicus  and  Junia  became  his  "  fellow-prisoners ;" 
and  the  rest  were  at  least  converts,  if  not  fellow-laborers. 

The  fact  that  Saul  was  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  suggests 
how  he  came  to  bear  that  name.  In  the  first  man  of  that 
name  who  is  historically  known  to  us,  the  small  tribe  of  Ben- 
jamin had  presented  to  Israel  its  first  king ;  and  this  being  the 
most  illustrious  fact  in  the  disastrous  history  of  the  tribe,  ren- 
dered the  name  of  Saul  popular  among  its  members,  who  de- 
lighted to  bestow  it  on  their  children.  Among  the  other  tribes  ' 
the  name  was  cherished  with  less  affection,  and  was  of  com- 
paratively rare  occurrence. 

There  are  no  materials  which  enable  us  to  determine  the 
position  in  life  of  Saul's  father.  In  general,  the  Jews  out  of 
Palestine  were  engaged  in  trade  and  commeree.  Some  were 
rich  through  the  extent  of  their  transactions,  or  the  direct  re- 
turns of  their  capital ;  but  there  were  hardly  any  whose  wealth 
*  Acts  xxiii.  16.  f  Rom.  xvi.  7,  11,  21. 


SAUL    OF   TARSUS.  05 

arose  from  landed  estate,  as,  while  Palestine  remained  a  Jewish 
country,  every  one  who  desired  that  position  sought  for  it 
there.  Egypt  may  have  offered  exceptions,  and  still  more  the 
East,  as  these  had  been  for  many  generations  the  real  homes 
of  large  Jewish  populations.  Abroad  there  were  few  Jews 
very  poor ;  as  those  who  were  so,  rarely  left  their  own  country, 
and  those  who  became  so  after  having  left,  returned  to  it,  as 
there  they  found  provisions  for  their  wants,  which  did  not  exist 
or  could  not  be  enforced  elsewhere.  The  majority  of  the  Jews 
abroad  were  dealers  and  tradesmen  of  various  kinds,  and  were 
generally  in  good  and  sometimes  in  affluent  circumstances. 
It  is  probable  that  Saul's  father  was  of  this  class.  That  he 
was  not  poor  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  his  son  had  a  first-rate 
education,  which  he  was  sent  to  Jerusalem  and  kept  there  to 
finish.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  this  does  not  imply  that  he 
was  rich ;  for  the  costs  of  education  were  very  low,  and  the 
objects  which  Saul's  father  realized  for  his  son,  were  not  more 
difficult  of  attainment  than  it  is  now  for  a  humble  Scottish  or 
American  farmer  to  give  a  university  education  to  his  son. 

The  fact  that  the  father  was  a  citizen  of  Rome,  implies  no- 
thing as  to  his  condition  in  life.  In  regard  to  this  matter, 
which  became  of  some  importance  in  the  subsequent  history 
of  Saul,  it  used  to  be  inferred  that  Tarsus  was  one  of  those 
cities,  all  those  born  in  which  enjoyed  this  distinguished  privi- 
lege. But  closer  inquiry  has  shown  that  Tarsus  did  not  attain 
this  position  till  long  after  the  time  of  Saul,  though  it  w7as  in 
his  time  a  free  city,  in  the  sense  of  being  governed  by  its  own 
lawrs  and  magistrates,  and  of  being  exempt  from  tribute. 
Hence  we  find  later  in  our  history  (Acts  xxii.  29),  that  the 
tribune  at  Jerusalem  was  not  debarred  from  scourging  Saul 
by  the  knowledge  that  he  was  of  Tarsus,  but  desisted  when  he 
further  learned  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen.  It  must  there- 
fore have  been  an  individual  right ;  but  how  it  was  acquired 
is  open  to  conjecture.  As  Saul  was  born  to  this  rio-ht,  it 
must  have  been  derived  from  his  father ;  and  if  Saul  could 
receive  it  as  a  birth-right,  his  father  might  so  have  received  it 
likewise.     It  may  have  been  acquired — as  it  often  was — from 


96  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK THURSDAY. 

some  service  rendered  to  the  Romans,  or  to  some  eminent 
Roman,  during  the  civil  wars ;  or,  although  Saul  himself  was 
free-born,  his  father  or  remoter  ancestor  may  have  purchased 
the  right  for  some  "great  price."  It  is  even  possible  that, 
although  brought  up  at  Tarsus,  Saul  may  have  been  actually 
born  in  some  other  city,  the  mere  fact  of  birth  in  which  con- 
veyed the  rights  of  citizenship. 

It  appears,  by  the  subsequent  history,  that  Saul  had  learned 
in  his  youth  the  trade  of  a  tent-maker,  by  which  he  was  able 
to  earn  his  living.  But  neither  does  this  throw  any  light  upon 
the  position  of  his  father ;  for  it  was  a  very  laudable  custom 
among  the  Jews,  even  the  wealthiest,  that  all  their  sons  should 
learn  some  trade,  as  a  security  against  want  under  all  the  vicis- 
situdes of  life.  Many  sayings,  enforcing  this  obligation,  are 
found  in  the  Talmud.  Rabbi  Judah  is  there  reported  as  say- 
ing,— "  He  who  teacheth  not  his  son  a  trade,  doth  the  same  as 
if  he  taught  him  to  be  a  thief."  And  among  the  sayings  as- 
cribed to  Saul's  own  master — the  Rabban  Gamaliel — is  this, — 
"  He  that  hath  a  trade  in  his  hand,  to  what  is  he  like  ?  He  is 
like  a  garden  that  is  fenced."  Having  thus  to  choose  a  trade 
for  his  son,  it  was  very  natural  that  he  should  select  that  of 
tent-making,  as  this  trade  was  largely  carried  on  at  Tarsus. 
The  tents  were  mostly  of  goats'  hair,  and,  as  in  Cilicia,  of  which 
Tarsus  was  the  capital,  the  hair  of  the  goat  was  remarkably 
long,  it  was  highly  esteemed  for  the  manufacture  of  the  hair- 
cloth of  which  such  tents  and  other  articles  were  made.  This 
cloth  indeed  took  its  distinguishing  name  from  the  locality 
which  afforded  the  material,  and  whence  the  cloth  itself,  being 
woven  in  the  province  chiefly,  came  by  the  name  of  cilicium. 
This  hair-cloth,  being  less  liable  than  any  other  to  injury  from 
wet,  was  used,  not  only  for  the  coverings  of  tents,  but  for  the 
coats  of  sailors  and  fishermen ;  for  sacks  in  which  to  carry 
packages  on  horseback ;  for  bags  to  hold  workmen's  tools ;  for 
coverings  to  military  engines ;  and  even  to  lay  over  the  walls 
of  besieged  towns,  to  deaden  the  force  of  the  battering-rams, 
and  to  prevent  the  wood-work  from  being  set  on  fire.  All  this 
gave  great  prominence  to  this  branch  of  manufacture  at  Tar- 


TARSUS.  97 

sus  ;  and  as  the  probability  is,  that  Saul'u  father  was  in  some 
kind  of  business,  and  as  the  men  usually  give  their  sons  the 
trades  to  which  they  have  easiest  access,  it  may  seem  not  un- 
likely that  he  was  himself  in  some  way  engaged  in  the  traffic 
with,  or  the  manufacture  of,  hair-cloth. 


FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

TARSUS. ACTS   XXI.  39. 

Although  we  may  know  little  of  the  early  life  of  Saul,  and 
the  exact  character  of  his  early  training,  as  well  as  his  precise 
position  in  life,  must  be  left  very  much  to  conjecture,  we  have 
at  least  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  the  nature  of  the  scenery 
on  which  his  eyes  continually  rested,  and  amid  which  his  ear- 
ly days  were  spent.  Some  may  despise  this  source  of  pleasur- 
able emotion,  in  contemplating  the  home  and  cradle  of  a  great 
man  ;  but  natural  sentiment  refuses  to  recognize  the  indifference 
which  cold  philosphy  inculcates  ;  and  so  long  as  that  sentiment 
impels  men  to  traverse  sea  and  land  in  order  to  look  upon  the 
scenes  of  great  events,  and  the  homes  and  haunts  of  illustrious 
men,  Tarsus  will,  for  Saul's  sake,  be  a  spot  of  interest  to  us. 

Cilicia,  of  which  Tarsus  was  the  capital,  was  the  province 
of  Asia  Minor  nearest  to  Syria,  being  separated  therefrom  on 
the  east  only  by  the  mountains  of  Adana.  It  was  a  plain, 
backed  to  the  north  by  the  great  mountain  range  of  Taurus, 
and  open  on  the  south  to  the  sea,  or  rather  to  the  gulf  of  Ci- 
licia, which,  by  a  breadth  of  fifty  miles,  separated  this  coast 
from  the  island  of  Cyprus.  Tarsus  stood  in  about  the  midst 
of  this  province,  nearly  two  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Cydnus,  which  was  navigable  to  the  city.  This  river, 
now  called  the  Kara  Su,  or  Black  Water,  then  flowed  through 
the  midst  of  the  city,  but  now  only  passes  near  to  it. 

Strabo  says  that  Tarsus  was  founded  by  an  Argive  colony 
that  went  with  Triptolemus  in  search  of  Io.     But  this  is  sim- 

vol.  iv.  5 


98  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK FRIDAY. 

ply  absurd ;  for  Io,  the  daughter  of  Inachus,  must  have  lived 
at  least  eighteen  centuries  before  our  era ;  whereas,  according 
to  the  Parian  marbles,  Triptolemus  quitted  Eleusis  only  1409 
years  before  that  epoch ;  and  even  apart  from  this  anachron- 
ism, which  brings  into  connection  persons  four  centuries  apart, 
what  credit  can  be  given  to  a  story  in  which  two  such  fabu- 
lous persons  as  Io  and  Triptolemus  are  made  to  play  the  prin- 
cipal parts  ? 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Tarsos  is  by  another  Greek  wri- 
te! (Dionysius  Periegetes),  connected  with  another  fable,  and 
affords  no  bad  specimen  of  what  Sir  William  Drummond  calls 
"  the  dauntless  effrontery  of  the  Greeks  in  tracing  foreign 
names  to  their  own  language."  In  that  language,  tarsos  sig- 
nifies the  bone  of  the  hand  or  foot,  and  may,  consequently,  be 
put  by  synedoehe  for  either  one  or  the  other.  Taking  advan- 
tage of  this  figure  of  speech,  Dionysius  informs  us  that  Tarsus 
was  so  called  because  it  was  there  the  horse  Pegasus  left  his 
hoof  (his  tarsos)  when  Bellerophon  fell  from  him  ! 

Although  we  are  bound  to  reject  the  tradition  reported  by 
Strabo,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  a  Greek  colony  had,  from 
very  remote  times,  been  established  at  Tarsus.  Grecian  learn- 
ing and  philosophy  appear  to  have  flourished  there ;  and  Stra- 
bo mentions  some  of  the  distinguished  men  who  were  natives 
of  the  place,  and  it  was  immediately  after  the  time  of  this 
geographer  that  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  born 
at  Tarsus. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  the  inhabitants  did  not  pos- 
sess the  general  right  of  Roman  citizenship  till  considerably 
later  than  the  time  of  Saul ;  but  that  yet  there  was  no  reason 
why  a  native  of  Tarsus  should  not,  on  other  grounds,  be  a  cit- 
izen of  Rome.  It  is  mentioned  by  Suetonius  that  many  stran- 
gers, professors  of  the  liberal  arts,  and  teachers  of  the  sciences, 
were  made  Roman  citizens  by  Caesar.  Now  it  happens  that 
Tarsus  connected  itself  conspicuously  with  that  great  man, 
and  the  inhabitants  received  so  many  favors  from  him,  and 
were  so  greatly  attached  to  him,  that  they  even  changed  the 
name  of  their  city,  as  Dion  Cassius  assures  us,  to  Juliopolis. 


TARSUS.  99 

Tliis  renders  it  likely  that  Caesar  bestowed  the  Roman  citizen- 
ship on  many  persons  belonging  to  Tarsus.  This  rank  could, 
as  the  Roman  lawyers  assure  us,  be  conveyed  by  inheritance, 
or  even  by  will ;  and  thus  Saul,  though  a  Jew  by  birth,  may 
have  inherited  the  right  which  he  claimed. 

It  used  to  be  a  somewhat  favorite  notion,  that  Tarsus  was 
the  Tarshish  so  often  mentioned  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures ; 
but  it  is  now  generally  admitted  that  there  is  no  ground  for 
that  conclusion. 

Tarsus  was  a  large,  populous,  and  wealthy  town,  and  hence 
Saul  himself  justly  calls  it  "no  mean  city."  Acts  xxi.  39. 
It  was  eminent  not  only  as  a  seat  of  learning,  but  of  commerce  ; 
and  although  there  are  few  existing  remains  to  avouch  its 
ancient  importance,  its  extent  at  least  is  evinced  by  the  fact 
that  the  Cydnus,  which  flowed  through  the  midst  of  the  an- 
cient city,  is,  in  the  nearest  part,  a  full  mile  from  the  modern 
town.  The  place  remained  of  considerable  importance  so  late 
as  the  time  of  Abulfeda,  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  and  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  centuries ;  for  this  great  geographer 
describes  it  as  a  large  place,  surrounded  by  a  double  wall,  and 
as  being  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Armenian  Christians.  It  is 
now  a  Turkish  town,  greatly  decayed,  but  still  of  some  rela- 
tive importance,  and  carrying  on  a  somewhat  active  commerce. 
It  exports  large  quantities  of  cattle  to  Egypt ;  it  collects  the 
cotton  of  the  district  and  sells  it  to  the  merchants  of  Smyrna, 
who  export  it  to  Europe.  Grain  is  very  plentiful ;  and  in 
1845,  when  there  was  dearth  all  over  Syria,  Tarsus  was  able 
to  supply  its  neighbors  with  many  ship-loads  of  wheat  and 
barley.  The  modern  town  contains  some  very  fine  buildings 
and  mosques,  and  is  entirely  walled  in  with  massive  masonry  ; 
but  both  the  exterior  and  interior  are  filthy  in  the  extreme. 
The  climate  is  mild  and  agreeable  in  winter ;  but  is  in  sum- 
mer intensely  hot  and  unwholesome.  During  one  week,  so 
late  as  the  middle  of  October,  the  thermometer  was  never  be- 
low 80°,  and  was,  in  the  experience  of  one  traveller,  sometimes 
high  as  93°  in  the  shade.  Hence  the  inhabitants  retire  dur- 
ing that  season  to  the  mountains.     There  they  live  in  perfect 


100  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK FRIDAY. 

indolence;  and  the  poor  man  will  rather  sell  anything  he 
may  possess  than  fail  to  take  his  family  to  the  mountains  dur- 
ing the  summer  months.  This  constant  shifting  of  residence 
prevents  the  people  from  building  good  houses,  either  in  Tar- 
sus or  in  the  Yaila,  as  they  call  their  summer  quarters. 

The  inhabitants — Turks,  Greeks,  and  Armenians,  are  about 
6,000  in  number,  by  the  latest  estimate. 

About  a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  town,  the  river  Cydnus, 
previously  of  considerable  depth  and  breadth,  falls  over  a  bed 
of  rocks  about  fifteen  feet  in  height,  whence  it  separates  into 
several  small  channels,  turning  mills  and  watering  beautiful 
gardens ;  these  streams  afterwards  unite,  and  so  continue  to 
the  sea.  The  plain  of  Tarsus  is  bare  of  trees,  but  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  cultivated  lands,  the  country  is  covered  with  bush- 
es, among  which  may  be  observed  the  myrtle  in  great  abun- 
dance and  perfection,  reaching  sometimes  to  seven  or  eight 
feet  high,  the  Vallonia  oak,  the  oleander,  the  carob,  the  cassia 
bush,  and  many  others. 

Here,  then,  whatever  of  man's  works  may  have  altered 
among  the  scenes  of  Saul's  childhood,  "  the  plain,  the  moun- 
tains, the  river,  and  the  sea  remain  to  us.  The  rich  harvests 
of  corn  still  grow  luxuriantly  after  the  rains  in  -spring ;  the 
same  tents  of  goats'  hair  are  still  seen  covering  the  plain  in 
busy  harvest.  There  is  the  same  solitude  and  silence  in  the 
intolerable  heat  and  dust  of  summer.  Then,  as  now,  the  moth- 
ers and  children  of  Tarsus  went  out  in  the  cool  evenings,  and 
looked  from  the  gardens  around  the  city,  or  from  their  terrac- 
ed roofs  upon  the  heights  of  Tarsus.  The  same  sunset  lin- 
gered on  the  pointed  summits.  The  same  shadows  gathered 
in  the  deep  ravines.  The  river  Cydnus  has  suffered  some 
changes  in  the  course  of  1800  years.  Instead  of  rushing,  as 
in  the  time  of  Xenophon,  like  the  Rhone  at  Geneva,  in  a 
stream  of  200  feet  broad  through  the  city,  it  now  flows  idly 
past  it  on  the  east.  The  channel  which  floated  the  ships  of 
Antony  and  Cleopatra  is  now  filled  up ;  and  wide  unhealthy 
lagoons  occupy  the  place  of  the  ancient  clocks.  But  its  upper 
waters  still  flow,  as  formerly,  cold  and  clear  from  the  moors  of 


SAUL    AT    SCHOOL.  101 

Taurus ;  and  its  waterfalls  still  break  over  the  same  rocks, 
when  the  snows  are  melting  like  the  Rhine  at  Schaffhausen. 
We  find  a  pleasure  in  thinking  that  the  footsteps  of  the  young 
apostle  often  wandered  by  the  side  of  this  stream,  and  that 
his  eyes  often  looked  on  these  falls.  We  can  hardly  believe 
that  he  who  spoke  to  the  Lystrians  of  the  '  rain  from  heaven,' 
and  the  '  fruitful  seasons,'  and  of  '  the  living  God,  who  made 
heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  sea,'  could  have  looked  with  indif- 
ference upon  beautiful  and  impressive  scenery.  Gamaliel  was 
celebrated  for  his  love  of  nature ;  and  the  young  Jew,  who 
was  destined  to  be  his  most  famous  pupil,  spent  his  early  days 
in  the  close  neighborhood  of  much  that  was  well  adapted  to 
foster  such  a  taste."* 


FORTY-SECOND  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

SAUL    AT    SCHOOL. ACTS    XXII.    3. 

We  closed  our  last  evening's  Reading  with  an  extract  from 
a  very  able  and  costly  production  with  which  our  theological 
literature  has  lately  been  adorned.  Desirous  to  follow  the  au- 
thors in  their  ingenious  endeavor  to  trace  the  boyhood  of  Saul, 
we  will  commence  the  present  Reading  with  a  further  extract 
from  the  same  work. 

"  It  is  usually  the  case  that  the  features  of  a  strong  character 
display  themselves  early.  His  impetuous,  fiery  disposition 
would  sometimes  need  control.  Flashes  of  indignation  would 
reveal  his  impatience  and  his  honesty.  The  affectionate  ten- 
derness of  his  nature  would  not  be  without  an  object  of  at- 

*  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  By  the  Rev.  "W.  J.  Conybeare  and 
the  Rev.  J.  S.  Howson.  London,  1853.  Respecting  Tarsus,  see  also 
Mannert's  Geographie  der  Greichen  undRomer  ;  Drummond's  Origines', 
Barker's  Lares  and  Penates ;  Burckhart's  Travels  in  Syria,  etc. ; 
Irby  and  Mangle's  Travels  :  Chesney's  Expedition  to  the  Euphrates ; 
Neale's  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Asia  Minor,  etc. 


15-j  FORTY-SECOND    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

tachment,  if  that  sister,  who  was  afterwards  married,*  was  his 
playmate  at  Tarsus.  The  work  of  tent-making,  rather  an 
amusement  than  a  trade,  might  sometimes  occupy  those  young 
hands,  which  were  marked  with  the  toil  of  years  when  he  held 
them  to  the  view  of  the  elders  at  Miletus.f  His  education  was 
conducted  at  home  rather  than  at  school :  for,  though  Tarsus 
was  celebrated  for  its  learning,  the  Hebrew  boy  would  not 
lightly  be  exposed  to  the  influence  of  Gentile  teaching ;  or,  if 
he  went  to  a  school,  it  was  not  a  Greek  school,  but  rather  to 
some  room  connected  with  the  synagogue,  where  a  noisy  class 
of  Jewish  children  received  the  rudiments  of  instruction,  seated 
on  the  ground  with  their  teacher,  after  the  manner  of  Moham- 
medan children  in  the  East,  who  may  be  seen  or  heard  at  their 
lessons  near  the  mosque.  At  such  a  school,  it  may  be,  he 
learnt  to  read  and  to  write,  and  going  and  returning  under  the 
care  of  some  attendant,  according  to  that  custom  which  he 
afterwards  used  as  an  illustration  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians  (and  perhaps  he  remembered  his  own  early  days  while 
he  wrote  the  passage),  when  he  spoke  of  the  Law  as  the  slave 
who  conducts  us  to  the  school  of  Christ.J  His  religious 
knowledge,  as  his  years  advanced,  was  obtained  from  hearing 
the  Law  read  in  the  synagogue,  from  listening  to  the  argu- 
ments and  discussions  of  learned  doctors,  and  from  that  habit 
of  questioning  and  answering,  which  was  permitted  even  to 
the  children  among  the  Jews.  Familiar  with  the  pathetic  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish  sufferings,  he  would  feel  his  heart  filled 
with  that  love  to  his  own  people  which  breaks  out  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Komans  [ix.  4-6] — a  love  not  then,  as  it  was 
afterwards,  blended  with  love  towards  all  mankind, — but  rather 
united  with  a  bitter  hatred  to  the  Gentile  children  whom  he 
saw  around  him.  His  idea  of  the  Messiah,  so  far  as  it  was 
distinct,  would  be  the  carnal  notion  of  a  temporal  prince — a 

*  Acts  xxiii.  16.  f  Aets  xx-  34- 

%  Gal.  iii.  24.— This  text  is  much  marred  in  the  authorized  version, 
where  the  "  pedagogue"  is  made  a  "  schoolmaster,"  as  he  still  is  iu  our 
common  parlance,  instead  of  being,  as  he  really  was,  the  servant  who 
took  his  master's  son  to  school. 


SAUL    AT    SCHOOL.  103 

1  Christ  known  after  the  flesh,' — and  he  looked  for  ward  with 
the  hope  of  a  Hebrew  to  the  restoration  of  '  the  kingdom  to 
Israel.'  He  would  be  known  at  Tarsus  as  a  child  of  promise, 
and  as  one  likely  to  uphold  the  honor  of  the  Law  against  the 
half-infidel  teaching  of  the  day." 

We  have  cited  this  interesting  passage  unaltered,  concurring 
generally  in  its  statements.  But  in  some  points  the  less  dis- 
tinction between  the  condition  of  a  Hebrew  lad  in  a  Greek  city 
like  Tarsus,  and  what  it  was  or  might  have  been  at  Jerusalem, 
is  not  sufficiently  kept  in  view.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
in  the  former  city  the  apparatus  for  public  teaching  and  dispu- 
tation was  so  complete  as  is  here  supposed ;  and  we  more  than 
doubt  that  hatred  to  Gentile  children,  however  likely  to  be 
entertained  in  Palestine,  where  strangers  were  few,  was  felt  so 
strongly,  if  at  all,  among  those  who  had  been  born  and  brought 
up  in  the  cities  of  the  heathen.  We  take  it  that  there  was 
little  positive  ill-will,  unless  in  times  of  excitement ;  but  that 
there  was  simply  just  that  social  separation  which  always  ex- 
ists among  persons  of  different  religion  and  origin,  such  in  fact 
as  may  be  witnessed  every  day  in  our  own  country.  And  it 
is  certain  that  the  Jews  could  never  be  in  social  intimacy  with 
any  people,  their  laws  respecting  food  being  alone  sufficient 
for  social  isolation. 

That  the  schools,  in  which  the  elements  of  learning  were 
imparted  to  boys,  were  similar  to  those  we  now  behold  in  the 
East,  there  is  little  reason  to  question.  A  short  account,  there- 
fore, of  these  schools,  and  the  instruction  given  in  them,  will 
furnish  the  best  illustration  of  the  subject.  With  the  substi- 
tution of  the  synagogue  for  the  mosque,  and  the  Bible  for  the 
Koran,  the  analogy  is  probably  as  close  as  need  be  desired. 

The  first  and  earliest  object  of  a  parent  is  to  instil  into  the 
mind  of  his  son  the  principles  of  his  religion,  and  the  observ- 
ances proper  to  it ;  and  then  he  endeavors,  if  possible,  to  ob- 
tain for  him  the  instructions  of  a  school-master,  if  the  small 
expense  can  be  afforded.  Most  of  the  children  of  the  higher 
classes,  and  many  of  the  lower,  are  taught  by  the  school-master 
to  read,  and  to  recite  the  whole,  or  certain  portions,  of  the 


104 


FORTY-SECOND    WEEK SATURDAY. 


Koran  by  heart.     They  afterwards  learn  the  common  rules 
of  arithmetic. 

Schools  are  sufficiently  numerous  in  every  large  town,  and 


there  is  seldom  any  considerable  village  without  one.  In 
metropolitan  cities  almost  every  mosque  has  a  school  attached 
to  it,  in  which  children  are  taught  at  a  very  trifling  expense. 


SAUL    AT    SCHOOL.  105 

The  sum  of  about  a  penny  paid  every  Thursday  is  a  very  com- 
mon school  fee;  and  the  master  of  a  school  attached  to  a 
mosque  receives  also  from  the  endowment  some  principal  arti- 
cles of  clothing  once  a  year,  when  the  boys  also  obtain  some 
garments  and  a  little  money.  The  lessons  are  generally  writ- 
ten upon  tablets  of  wood  painted  white ;  and  when  one  lesson 
is  learnt,  the  tablet  is  washed,  and  another  is  written.  As  a 
substitute  for  this,  slates  have  been  found  very  acceptable 
where  introduced  by  missionaries.  The  school-master  and  his 
pupils  sit  upon  the  ground ;  and  each  boy  has  a  tablet  in  his 
hands,  or  a  copy  of  the  Koran,  or  one  of  its  thirty  sections,  on 
a  little  rude  kind  of  desk  of  palm  sticks.  All  who  are  learn- 
ing to  read  recite  their  lessons  aloud,  at  the  same  time  rocking 
their  heads  and  bodies  incessantly  backward  and  forward. 
This  is  a  practice  of  almost  every  one  who  reads  the  Koran, 
being  supposed  to  help  the  memory ;  but  the  din  which  it 
occasions  in  a  school  is  more  easily  imagined  than  described. 
Yet  in  the  midst  of  all  this  noise,  the  experienced  ear  of  the 
master  instantly  detects  an  error  which  any  of  the  boys  may 
fall  into,  and  distinguishes  the  offender,  who  is  forthwith  called 
to  account.     The  discipline  of  the  school  is  maintained  by 

"The  good  old  rule,  the  simple  plan," 

of  bodily  chastisement.  This  is  inflicted  by  a  palm-stick  upon 
the  soles  of  the  naked  feet ;  for  in  school,  as  in  other  places, 
the  heads  are  covered  and  the  feet  bare,  and  the  quantity  of 
shoes  near  the  entrance  of  the  apartment  is  a  strange  sight  to 
the  inexperienced.  Corporal  punishment  is,  however,  very 
rarely  inflicted,  the  real  respect  with  which  Eastern  children 
are  taught  to  regard  their  seniors,  being  generally  quite  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  the  authority  of  the  school-master  and  the 
discipline  of  the  school. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  common  schools  teach  little  more 
than  reading  and  learning  by  heart ;  the  reading  lessons  being 
written  on  the  tablets,  not  by  the  boys  themselves,  but  by  the 
master ;  and  one  who  can  read  well  and  recite  a  good  portion 
of  the  Koran,  is  in  general  held  to  be  quite  sufficiently  educated. 
5* 


106  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK SUNDAY. 

The  school-masters  seldom  teach  writing ;  and  it  is  learnt  by 
few  boys  but  those  whose  destined  employment  will  require  it ; 
and  they  then  learn  it  usually  of  one  of  the  officers  employed 
in  the  bazaars.  Some  parents  employ  a  tutor  to  teach  their 
sons  at  home ;  and  those  who  aspire  to  a  high  education  can 
acquire  it  on  easy  terms  at  the  Medressehs  or  colleges  attached 
to  the  great  mosques,  answering  to  the  school  in  which  Saul 
completed  his  education  at  Jerusalem.  Girls  are  not  taught 
to  read  or  write,  unless  in  very  rare  instances ;  and  we  well 
remember  the  bewildering  amazement,  with  which  the  females 
of  a  small  Eastern  town  flocked  together,  to  behold  an  English 
lady  writing  in  her  journal  at  our  evening  encampment.  Yet 
there  are  schools  in  which  they  are  taught  embroidery  and 
needle-work,  and  in  this  they  excel.  Their  religious  education 
is,  however,  very  much  disregarded,  and  scarcely  any  religious 
duties  are  expected  from  them.  Among  the  Jews,  the  women 
were  not  to  this  degree  neglected ;  for  the  females  introduced 
to  our  notice  in  the  New  Testament,  are  generally  well  versed 
in  the  Scriptures.  Among  them  also,  writing  seems  to  have 
been  more  generally  a  part  of  common  education  than  it  is  at 
present  in  the  East ;  but  with  these  differences,  the  parallel 
seems  to  run  very  close. 


£oxtn~Ql\)\xb  fcOeck— 0 it nbag. 

SCRIPTURE    READING. ACTS   VIII.   28. 

It  may  be  pleasant  this  evening  to  turn  back  to  the  case  of 
the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  for  the  sake  of  some  practical  consider- 
ations which,  in  the  thoughtful  mind,  connect  themselves  with 
it,  or  arise  from  it. 

Those  considerations  which  pertain  to  the  eunuch's  study 
of  the  Scriptures  are  the  most  important,  as  well  as  the  most 
interesting ;  and  they  concern  us  most,  for  in  this  eunuch  we 
have  before  us  an  example  of  those  dispositions  on  which  God 


SCRIPrURE    READING.  107 

likes  to  bestow  more  light,  and  from  which  He  never  eventu- 
ally withholds  it.  These  dispositions  are  indeed  his  gift ;  and 
He  fails  not  in  due  time  to  honor  the  gifts  of  his  own  bestow- 
ing. 

It  is  evident  that  dim  and  partial  as  the  eunuch's  light  was, 
he  read  the  Scriptures  with  a  real  and  lively  interest,  and  not 
as  a  formal  duty. ,  If  it  had  been  so,  he  would  have  discharged 
that  duty  before  he  began  the  morning  journey,  or  when  he 
reached  the  evening  rest.  He  would  have  duly  read  the  allot- 
ted portion,  and  then  have  laid  the  sacred  roll  aside  until  the 
set  time  should  again  come  round.  But  no  ;  according  to  his 
light,  he  loved  the  word  of  God.  In  his  measure  it  had  be- 
come "  his  song  in  the  house  of  his  pilgrimage."  Its  high  and 
weighty  matters  wrere  of  deeper  interest  to  him  than  are  the 
papers  and  books,  in  red,  yellow,  and  green,  which  our  own 
time  offers  to  those  who  travel  by  the  way.  Therefore  he  read 
the  Bible  in  his  chariot — and  he  read  it  with  absorbed  atten- 
tion even  in  passing  through  a  country,  every  brook,  and  hill, 
and  valley  in  which  might  be  supposed  of  special  interest  to  a 
foreign  Jew  visiting  the  land.  And  was  this  labor  all  lost,  this 
interest  all  wasted,  this  reading  all  profitless,  because,  as  he 
confesses,  he  could  not  understand  what  he  read  ?  Not  so. 
It  is  very  evident  that  he  read  with  an  earnest  desire  to  learn, 
and  therefore  he  did  learn ; — that  he  hoped  to  find  some  fruit 
from  it,  and  therefore  it  was  not  barren  to  him.  In  confessing 
his  ignorance,  he  meant  not  to  say  that  there  was  no  light  for 
him,  but  only  that  he  found  many  dark  places — the  full  mean- 
ing of  which  eluded  his  grasp,  and  that  this  was  especially  the 
case  with  the  place  which  then  engaged  his  attention.  But  all 
was  not  dark.  Had  it  been  so,  his  interest  in  the  study  of  the 
sacred  book  could  hardly  have  been  sustained.  There  are 
many  things  in  Isaiah  which  need  no  interpretation  ;  as  when 
he  sets  forth  the  goodness  and  power  of  God,  inviting  the  peo- 
ple to  faith  in  Him,  or  urging  them  to  a  godly  life.  No  one, 
therefore,  can  be  so  ignorant  but  that  he  may  profit  considera- 
bly by  the  reading  of  that  book,  even  though  he  should  scarcely 
understand  more  than  every  fourth  verse,     And  this  seems  to 


108  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK SUNDAY. 

have  been  the  case  of  the  eunuch ;  for  since,  according  to  nis 
capacity  and  moans,  he  gathered  up  those  things  that  served 
for  his  edification,  his  studies  in  God's  word  were  in  that  meas- 
ure profitable  to  him.  And  observe  that,  although  he  met 
with  many  difficulties,  and  was  consciously  ignorant  of  many 
things  of  which  he  read,  he  was  not  thereby  discouraged,  nor 
lost  his  interest  in  God's  word.  He  persevered  in  the  search 
for  that  light,  which  he  knew  to  be  there,  though  as  yet  he 
could  scarcely  catch  but  some  glimpses  of  it.  Thus  must  we 
also  read  the  Scriptures.  We  must  greedily,  and  with  readi- 
ness of  mind,  receive  those  things  in  which  God  plainly  opens 
his  mind  to  us ;  and  as  for  those  things  that  are  hid,  what  have 
we  to  do  but  wait  until  more  light  is  vouchsafed  to  us,  resting 
assured  that  all  needfid  light  will,  in  God's  own  time,  be  given, 
if  we  faint  not.  Let  us  not  spoil  all  by  agonizing  after  the 
hidden  things,  before  we  have  fully  mastered  the  plain — moan- 
ing after  the  mysteries,  and  neglecting  the  elements.  If  we 
do  this  in  patient  faith,  the  Scriptures  will  meanwhile  become 
familiar  by  continual  use ;  and  this  is  a  great  gain — this  is  a 
mighty  preparation  for  fuller  light.  It  was  so  in  the  case  of 
the  Ethiopian  eunuch — it  was  so  in  the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus. 
It  has  been  questioned  by  some — perhaps  by  many — in  what 
degree  it  may  be  desirable  to  enforce  an  intimacy  with  Scrip- 
ture in  early  life,  upon  the  regardless  or  reluctant  mind.  But 
the  more  reluctant  the  mind  is,  the  more  it  needs  such  replen- 
ishment. The  mind  must  be  filled  -with  something,  and  with 
what  on  earth  so  good  can  the  mind  be  filled?  God's  word 
shall  never  return  unto  Him  void — shall  never  fail  to  prosper 
in  the  thing  whereto  He  sends  it ;  and  how  often  has  not  some 
holy  text,  some  sacred  verse,  some  Scripture  example,  come 
down  like  a  conscience  upon  the  soul  wandering  in  the  world's 
ways,  or  lost  in  the  dens  of  iniquity,  and  cast  it  in  dust  and 
ashes  at  God's  feet! 

That  other  disposition  also,  such  as  this  of  the  eunuch,  which 
perseveres  in  the  study  of  God's  word,  even  under  discourage- 
ment, and  goes  on  filling  the  soul's  treasury  with  its  gems,  al- 
though the  exact  value  of  each  stone  may  not  be  known,  shall 


SAUL   AT   JERUSALEM.  109 

at  length  find  a  day  of  reward  and  refreshing  as  he  did ;  and 
the  sooner  shall  it  be  found  by  those  whose  minds  remain  as 
humble  and  as  teachable  as  his.  He  certainly  knew  something ; 
he  knew  more  than  many,  yet  he  confesses  that  he  knows 
nothing — that  he  is  altogether  in  need  of  instruction,  and  that 
he  will  rejoice  to  receive  it  from  any,  however  low  or  humble, 
who  may  be  able  to  impart  it  to  him.  This  is  the  disposition 
the  Lord  delights  to  honor.  And  He  often  honors  it  signally  • 
so  that  he  who  takes  nothing  upon  himself,  and  who  claims  to 
know  nothing  but  his  own  insufficiency  and  ignorance,  may 
quickly,  under  the  Divine  teaching,  and  in  the  leadings  of 
Providence,  obtain  more  light  of  understanding  than  a  life's 
labor  would  enable  him  to  realize  by  his  own  research  or  in- 
telligence. "  So,"  as  Calvin  remarks,  "  the  Lord  will  be  unto 
us  a  Master,  though  we  be  but  small,  if  acknowledging  our 
ignorance,  we  be  not  loth  to  submit  ourselves  to  learn.  And 
as  the  seed,  covered  with  earth,  lieth  hid  for  a  time,  so  the 
Lord  will  illuminate  us  by  his  Spirit,  and  will  cause  that  read- 
ing, which  being  barren  and  void  of  fruit,  causeth  nothing  but 
wearisomeness,  to  have  plain  light  of  understanding." 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— MONDAY. 

SAUL  AT  JERUSALEM. ACTS  XXII.  3. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  condition  in  life  of  Saul's 
father,  it  seems  clear  that  he  designed  his  son  for  the  learned 
profession,  that  is,  that  he  should  be  educated  as  a  Rabbi. 
For  any  other  employment  or  pursuit,  the  education  which  he 
was  sent  to  receive,  at  Jerusalem,  so  far  away  from  his  pa- 
ternal home,  and  during  a  period  extending,  it  would  seem, 
over  many  years,  would  not  have  been  deemed  necessary.  It 
would,  however,  be  interesting  to  know  at  what  age  he  was 
sent  to  Jerusalem.  On  this  point,  opinions  have  been  various, 
and  no  positive  conclusion  can  be  reached. 


110  FORTY-THrRD    WEEK MONDAY. 

Some  have  thought  that  he  was  not  less  than  thirty  years 
of  age  when  he  proceded  to  Jerusalem.  And  in  answer  to 
the  objection  that  he  is  called  "  a  young  man,"  at  the  time  of 
Stephen's  death,  it  is  very  well  remarked,  that  the  ancients 
extended  the  period  of  youth  much  farther  than  we  do — too 
far,  in  fact ;  and  that  we  equally  transgress  the  laws  of  naturo 
in  making  that  period  too  short.  Still,  this  supposition  is  un- 
tenable, and  there  is  not  an  iota  of  evidence  that  the  Jews 
postponed  to  so  advanced  a  period  of  life  the  commencement 
of  a  learned  education.  The  assertion  of  Strabo,  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Tarsus  were,  as  a  general  thing,  led  by  their  love 
of  learning,  to  foreign  cities  for  the  completion  of  their  edu- 
cation, may  at  the  first  view  seem  applicable  to  this  case  ;  but 
for  the  reasons  already  given,  it  could  have  no  proper  reference 
to  Saul  and  his  countrymen  generally,  but  only  to  the  Greeks. 
According  to  the  educational  rule  among  the  Jews — set  forth, 
indeed,  at  a  later  period,  but  which  was  doubtless  conformable 
to  earlier  usage — the  study  of  the  Mishna,  or  expository  tra- 
ditions of  the  law,  was  to  be  commenced  by  boys  at  ten  years 
of  age,  and  at  thirteen  they  became  wholly  subject  to  the  law. 
If  this  appointment  seems  to  assign  too  early  a  period  of  life 
fop  such  a  study,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Orientals 
come  to  maturity  earlier  than  we  do,  and  that  with  them  the 
thirteenth  year  corresponds  to  at  least  the  fifteenth  among 
ourselves.  On  this  account,  the  same  passage  of  the  Talmud 
from  which  this  rule  is  taken,  designates  the  eighteenth  year 
as  the  age  proper  for  marriage.  It  has  therefore  been  con- 
cluded that  Saul  went  to  Jerusalem  at  some  period  between 
the  tenth  and  thirteenth  year  of  his  age.  Had  it  been  at  any 
much  later  age,  he  could  hardly  have  said,  as  he  did  on  one 
occasion,  that  although  born  at  Tarsus,  a  city  of  Cilicia,  he  had 
been  "  brought  up  in  Jerusalem  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel." 
Acts  xxii.  3. 

It  was  probably  with  his  father,  or  under  the  care  of  some 
friend  older  than  himself,  that  the  young  Saul  took  this  which, 
we  may  well  suppose  to  have  been  his  first  extensive  journey 
There  is  every  probability  that  the  passage  was  by  water  in 


SAUL   AT   JERUSALEM.  Ill 

some  Phoenician  vessel  to  Tyre,  or  perhaps  to  Csesarea,  and 
thence  to  Jerusalem.  "  The  first  time  one  leaves  the  land  of 
his  birth  to  visit  a  foreign  and  distant  country,  is  an  important 
epoch  in  his  life.  In  the  case  of  one  who  has  taken  this  first 
journey  at  an  early  age,  and  whose  character  is  enthusiastic, 
and  susceptible  of  lively  impressions  from  without,  this  epoch 
is  usually  remembered  with  peculiar  distinctness.  But,  when 
the  country  which  is  thus  visited,  has  furnished  the  imagery 
for  the  dreams  of  childhood,  and  is  felt  to  be  more  truly  the 
young  traveller's  home  than  the  land  he  is  leaving,  then  the 
journey  assumes  the  sacred  character  of  a  pilgrimage."*  The 
same  writer  omits  not  to  point  out  the  difference  of  scenery 
and  cultivation  which  would  meet  the  eye  of  one  who  came 
from  Cilicia.  u  Not  a  river,  and  a  wide  plain  covered  with 
harvests  of  corn,  but  a  succession  of  hills  and  valleys,  and  ter- 
raced vineyards  watered  by  artificial  irrigation." 

We  have  now,  then,  conducted  the  young  Saul  to  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  inquire  for  a  moment  into 
the  nature  of  the  education  he  there  received,  and  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  which  several  years  must  have  been  devoted.  The 
instruction  of  the  doctors  of  the  law,  of  whom  Gamaliel  was 
one,  consisted  almost  exclusively  in  the  oral  interpretation  of 
Scripture.  The  object  of  this  interpretation  was  partly  to  de- 
velop from  the  inspired  word  the  prescriptions  of  ecclesiastic- 
al law,  and  partly  to  connect  with  Biblical  interpretation  va- 
rious kinds  of  instruction  in  ethical  science.  The  Biblical  in- 
terpretation thus  conveyed,  was  not,  however,  the  individual 
work  of  the  Rabbi  who  was  instructing  at  the  particular  time. 
It  consisted  rather,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  traditions  of  the 
past,  respecting  the  opinions  and  teachings  of  certain  eminent 
Rabbis,  upon  the  text  or  subject  under  discussion.  Practically, 
therefore,  the  system  was  one  of  Scripture  exegesis.  No  book 
was  in  use  but  the  Bible ;  and  there  was,  indeed,  a  prejudice 
against  the  introduction  of  any  other  book.  Josephus  asserts 
that  this  Scripture  exposition  was  the  only  learning  prized 
among  his  people.  "They  award  the  character  of  a  wise 
*  Howson,  in  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i  56. 


112  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — MONDAY. 

man,"  he  says,  "only  to  those  who  understand  the  Law,  and 
are  able  to  interpret  the  sacred  writings." 

Whatever  faults  and  puerilities  disgraced  the  mode  of  in- 
vestigation, there  can  be  no  question  that  this  concentration 
of  the  attention  of  the  students  upon  one  book,  and  the  con- 
tinual exercise  of  their  ingenuity,  if  not  judgment,  in  the  de- 
velopment of  its  meaning,  or  in  the  application  of  every  pos- 
sible meaning  it  could  bear,  must  have  given  to  them  a  very 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  sacred  writings.  How  far 
this  education  availed  for  giving  a  comprehensive  knowledge 
of  the  Bible,  we  may  perhaps  perceive  in  the  copious  and 
ready  use  which  Paul  makes  of  all  parts  of  the  sacred  writings, 
and  in  the  additional  fact  that  he  usually  quotes  from  memo- 
ry. Some  inquirers  have  traced  eighty-eight  quotations  from 
the  Old  Testament  in  his  writings,  of  which,  it  is  thought 
probable  that  at  least  forty-nine  are  cited  from  memory — some 
from  the  Septuagint  version,  some  from  the  original  Hebrew. 

The  statement  of  this  mode  of  instruction  suggests  the  no- 
tion of  a  lecturer  or  professor  prop  ounding  his  views  of  the 
matter  in  hand,  and  the  students  listening  to  him,  and,  it  may 
be,  taking  notes  of  his  discourse.  But  the  real  process  was 
very  different.  The  position  of  the  presiding  Rabbi  was  more 
that  of  a  moderator  or  chairman  than  that  of  a  lecturer.  He 
proposed  the  text  or  subject,  and  guided  the  discussion  of  it. 
He  questioned,  he  answered,  he  proposed  difficulties  of  his 
own,  he  solved  the  difficulties  and  corrected  the  errors  of  others ; 
and  in  the  course  of  the  operation,  in  which  many  took  part, 
he  managed,  by  verbal  and  literal  criticism,  by  illustration,  by 
analogy,  by  parable,  by  allegory,  by  aphorism,  by  anecdote, 
and  by  reporting  the  sayings  of  his  predecessors,  to  throw 
upon  the  subject  all  the  light  which  his  learning  or  his  genius 
could  supply.  The  instruction  was,  in  fact,  eminently  cate- 
chetical, and  so  that  not  merely  the  teacher  proposed  ques- 
tions to  the  scholars,  but  the  scholars  to  the  teacher,  and  to 
one  another.  And  so  partial  were  the  Jews  to  this  mode  of 
teaching,  that  it  was  not  confined  merely  to  the  Rabinical 
schools,  but  extended  to  the  synagogue,  where  the  discourses 


SAUL'S    CONVERSION,  113 

were  concluded,  any  hearer  might  propose  difficult  inquiries, 
as  is  done  at  this  day  in  the  Jewish  synagogues. 

Of  all  this  a  remarkable  instance  occurs  in  Scripture  in  the 
case  of  our  Lord,  who,  when  a  boy,  was  found  in  the  Temple 
"  among  the  doctors,"  both  hearing  them  and  asking  them 
questions ;  but  this  incident  has  already  engaged  our  attention 
in  the  proper  place.* 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

saul's  conversion. — acts  ix.  1-8  ;  xxii.  5-16  ;  xxvi.  12-18. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  even  current  of  Saul's  history 
as  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

The  authorities  at  Jerusalem  could  not  fail  to  become  soon 
acquainted  with  the  fact,  that  the  severe  measures  they  had 
taken  against  the  Christians  in  that  city,  had  tendered  rather 
to  the  furtherance  than  to  the  suppression  of  that  Gospel, 
against  which  their  power  had  been  exerted.  They  learned, 
that  through  the  labors  of  the  fugitives,  this  new  doctrine  was 
making  rapid  progress,  not  only  in  territories  immediately  be- 
yond the  borders  of  Judea,  not  only  in  Samaria,  in  Galilee, 
and  in  Perea,  but  among  the  Jewish  congregations  of  cities 
beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine.  From  the  greatness  of  the 
city,  and  from  the  large  number  of  Jews  established  there,  the 
news  from  Damascus  was  of  especial  and  prominent  interest ; 
and  the  news  that  did  come  was,  that  the  Gospel  had  there 
been  received  with  remarkable  favor.  In  the  disappointment 
and  rage  which  this  intelligence  excited,  none  shared  more 

*  On  the  subject  of  this  evening's  Reading,  see  in  Meuschenii  Oratio 
de  Directoribus  Scholarum  Hebraorum  in  Nov.  Test,  ex  Talmude  etAn- 
tiqq.  Hebraor.  illustratum.  Jost's  History  of  the  Hebrew  People.  Tho- 
luek's  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  St.  Paul,  in  Biblical  Cabinet, 
No.  287.  Cyclop,  of  Biblical  Literature,  art.  Schools  ;  and  Howson,  in 
Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 


114  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK TUESDAY. 

strongly  than  the  furious  yourig  zealot  who  had  made  him- 
self so  active  in  the  home  persecution.  He  grew,  as  he  him- 
self says,  "  exceedingly  mad"  against  them,  and  "  breathed  out 
threateniugs  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord." 
The  term  chosen  by  the  sacred  writer,  "  breathing  out,"  is  very- 
emphatic,  and  occurs  in  the  classical  writers  to  express  such 
deep  and  agitating  emotions  as  produce  rapid  and  violent 
breathing,  as  in  extreme  wrath  and  the  like. 

Saul's  anger  was  not  spent  in  threatenings  merely.  In  his 
vehement  zeal  he  thirsted  for  the  punishment  of  the  heretical 
innovators,  and  conceived  the  idea  of  pursuing  them  even  be- 
yond the  bounds  of  Palestine.  He  therefore  applied  to  the 
high-priest,  and  requested  to  be  employed  in  this  service. 
What  he  desired  was,  that  he  should  be  furnished  with  a  com- 
mission, in  the  form  of  letters  to  the  synagogue  at  Damascus, 
authorizing  him  to  seize  all  those  who  were  found  to  be  disci- 
ples of  Jesus,  whether  men  or  women,  and  bring  them  in 
chains  to  Jerusalem  for  trial  and  punishment.  The  desired 
commission  was  gladly  given  to  one  so  well  known,  and  so 
distinguished  for  his  zeal  as  Saul  had  now  become,  the  high- 
priest  being,  doubtless,  much  rejoiced  to  find  so  willing  and 
able  an  instrument  for  his  own  purposes.  Presently,  then,  we 
behold  Saul  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  with  a  suitable  retinue, 
and  armed  with  full  powers  as  chief  inquisitor,  for  the  holy 
work  of  extirpating  heresy.  Never,  perhaps,  was  the  heart 
of  a  man  more  elated  in  the  persuasion  that  he  was  in  the 
path  of  high  duty,  and  in  the  conviction  that  he  was  rendering 
to  God  a  most  acceptable  service,  than  was  Saul  when  upon 
this  journey  ;  and,  to  the  eye  of  human  calculation,  never  was 
a  man  less  likely  to  become  a  convert  to  the  truth  he  sought 
to  destroy,  than  was  Saul  of  Tarsus  in  that  hour  when  the 
fair  city  of  Damascus  burst  upon  his  view,  seated  like  a  bride 
amid  her  gardens,  with  the  rivers  of  Abana  and  Pharphar 
watering  her  feet.  Yet  this  was  the  man,  and  this  the  hour, 
when  the  fierce  persecutor  was  to  be  struck  down  in  his  pride 
of  place,  and  rendered  the  docile  follower  of  that  JSTazarene,  at 
whose  name  he  had  formerly  ground  his  teeth,  and  the  most 


saul's  conversion.  115 

conspicuous  upholder  of  that  truth  he  was  prepared  to  lead 
captive  in  his  chains.  The  time  was  now  fully  come — the  fit 
time — the  time  fittest  for  himself,  for  the  church  then  and  in 
all  ages,  and  for  the  saints  at  Damascus,  who  stood  in  much 
want  of  their  Lord's  protection  from  this  fierce  oppressor. 
The  time  had  come  that  the  Lord  had  need  of  him.  And  so 
He  called  him ;  and  the  call  was  made  in  a  way  so  effectual 
as  rendered  it  irresistible  to  himself,  and  irresistible  for  the  au- 
thentication of  the  great  mission  entrusted  to  him.  Of  this 
event — the  greatest  since  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at 
Pentecost  in  all  the  history  of  the  early  church — we  have 
three  accounts  :  The  leading  narrative  by  Saul's  own  confiden- 
tial friend  and  follower,  Luke ;  and  two  by  Paul  himself,  first 
in  his  address  to  the  council  at  Jerusalem,*  and  again  in  his 
speech  before  King  Agrippa  at  Cesareaf — by  comparing  which 
together,  we  obtain  a  clearer  view  of  this  most  extraordinary 
transaction. 

It  was  not  at  night,  but  under  the  glare  of  the  noontide 
sun,  that  Saul  approached  the  city  of  Damascus.  Then  sud- 
denly there  burst  upon  the  party  not  merely  a  light,  but  a 
radiance,  an  excessive  brightness,  far  exceeding  that  which  is 
felt  in  looking  in  the  face  of  the  sun  in  an  eastern  sky.  So 
intense  was  that  light,  so  confounding  to  the  senses,  that  they 
all  fell  to  the  ground,  and  lay  prostrate  there.  Then  as  he  lay 
thus,  Saul  heard  a  voice,  saying  to  him  in  the  Hebrew  tongue, 
"  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  Me  V  The  whole  of  them 
heard  the  voice ;  but  none  but  he  to  whom  it  was  addressed 
were  able  to  distinguish  the  words  it  uttered.  He  himself, 
confounded  and  amazed,  could  only  say,  "Who  art  Thou, 
Lord  ?"  To  which  the  voice  answered,  "  I  am  Jesus,  whom 
thou  persecutest."  And,  resorting  even  then  to  that  form  of 
parabolic  instruction  which  had  during  his  abode  on  earth 
distinguished  his  utterance,  He  added,  "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to 
kick  against  the  goad," — an  expression  drawn  from  the  act  of 
an  unruly  ox  in  resisting  the  goad  by  which  it  is  impelled — 
resistance  not  only  abortive,  but  greatly  increasing  its  own  dis- 
*  Acts  xxii.  t  Acts  xxvl 


110  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — TUESDAY. 

tress.  As  much  as  to  say, — Neither  the  preaching  nor  the 
death  of  Stephen ;  no  miracles,  no  arguments  have  prevailed 
with  ihee.  Now,  therefore,  I  appear  to  thee  in  a  more  express 
and  strange  manner,  and  appoint  to  thee  a  great  work,  to  which 
I  call  thee,  and  for  which  I  will  qualify  thee.  All  resistance 
to  the  power  of  my  grace  is  as  vain  as  the  opposition  of  the 
unruly  beast  to  the  hand  of  its  master. 

The  full  meaning  of  every  word  the  voice  uttered  went  to 
the  heart  of  Saul,  and  threw  into  his  mind  a  flood  of  light, 
stronger  far  than  that  which  had  rendered  his  outward  vision 
blind.  Completely  humbled,  he  could  only  murmur,  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  He  thought  perhaps  that 
he  should  be  ordered  back  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  to  put  him- 
self under  the  pupilage  of  the  apostles.  Whatever  he  thought, 
he  becomingly  casts  himself  upon  the  good  pleasure  of  Him 
who  had  now  revealed  himself  to  his  soul,  and,  as  an  obedient 
convert,  submissively  awaits  His  direction.  He  was  probably 
surprised  to  hear  that  he  was  to  proceed  to  Damascus,  and 
that  there  he  should  learn  the  will  of  God  concerning  him. 

He  accordingly  arose ;  but  when  he  again  opened  his  eyes, 
which  he  had  instinctively  closed  at  the  sudden  access  of  un- 
earthly brightness,  he  found  that  he  could  not  see.  He  had 
actually  been 

"  Blinded  by  excess  of  light  f 

and  those  who  were  with  him,  perceiving  his  condition,  led  by 
the  hand  into  Damascus — feeble  as  a  child,  and  humble  as  a 
condemned  offender,  the  pitiless  persecutor  whose  arrival  had, 
but  an  hour  before,  threatened  sorrow  and  ruin  to  many  fami- 
lies in  that  city.  The  blindness  of  Saul  was  no  doubt  merci- 
fully intended  by  Providence  to  strengthen  the  powers  of  his 
mind,  by  compelling  him  to  attend  without  distraction  to  the 
great  matters  Nvhich  had  been  placed  before  him.  The  fact  of 
this  sudden  and  complete  incapacitation,  would  also  naturally 
prevent  his  being  troubled  about  the  business  on  which  he 
came,  either  by  those  to  whom  his  letters  were  addressed,  or 
those  who  had  been  the  companions  of  his  journey.     This 


saul's  conversion.  117 

lasted  three  days ;  and  the  state  of  his  mind  may  be  gathered 
from  the  fact  that  he  took  no  food  or  drink  during  that  inter- 
val. His  soul  was  full  of  great  matters,  which  left  no  taste  or 
thought  for  meaner  cares.  And  versed  as  he  was  in  the  Bible, 
he  could  even  in  his  blindness,  search  the  Scriptures,  and, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  enabled  clearly  to 
discern  the  whole  scheme  of  Christian  doctrine  in  its  fulness 
and  truth.  He  repeatedly  declares,  in  after  life,  that  these 
things  were  not  taught  him  by  man,  not  by  any  apostle  or 
disciple,  but  were  imparted  to  him  by  the  Spirit  of  truth. 
He  was  thus  enabled  to  speak  and  teach  with  the  same  unde- 
rived  authority  and  Divine  unction  as  the  other  apostles.  It 
is  important  to  notice  this ;  because  it  might  seem  to  some 
that  Ananias,  one  of  the  disciples  at  Damascus,  who  had  been 
sent  to  him,  after  the  three  days,  in  a  vision,  had  been  his  in- 
structor ;  but  the  close  reader  will  see  that  the  terms  of  this 
person's  commission,  and  the  mode  in  which  he  discharged  it, 
give  no  sanction  to  this  impression. 

The  commission  with  which  Saul  was  charged  was  well 
known  in  Damascus,  and  no  suspicion  was  entertained  that 
any  change  had  come  over  him.  It  was  probably  conceived 
that  his  operations  were  merely  suspended  on  account  of  his 
blindness.  When,  therefore,  this  Ananias  was  directed  to  go 
to  him,  and  put  his  hand  upon  his  eyes  to  remove  his  blind- 
ness, he  was  greatly  astonished,  and  repeated  what  he  had 
heard  as  to  the  antagonism  and  fell  intentions  of  this  same 
Saul.  But  the  answer,  decisive  and  full  of  deep  matter,  al- 
lowed no  further  remonstrance : — "  Go  thy  way :  for  he  is  a 
chosen  vessel  unto  Me,  to  bear  my  name  before  the  Gentiles, 
and  kings,  and  the  people  of  Israel.  For  I  will  show  him 
how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name's  sake."  This 
is  the  first  mention  of  his  high  vocation  in  the  direct  narrative ; 
but  it  appears  from  the  apostle's  own  account  before  Agrippa, 
that  this  had  been  very  distinctly  intimated  to  himself  when 
our  Lord  spoke  to  him  from  amid  the  brightness. 

Thus  encouraged,  Ananias  proceeded,  as  he  had  been 
directed,  to  "  the  street  called  Straight,"  and  inquired  at  the 


118  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — TUESDAY. 

house  of  Judas  for  one  Saul  of  Tarsus ;  and  soon  he  was  in- 
troduced to  the  presence  of  the  man  who  bore  that  so  lately 
dreadful  name.  He  at  once  let  him  know  that  he  came  with 
a  message  of  peace  anci  comfort ;  and  told  him  that  he  had 
been  sent  by  One,  now  not  unknown  to  him,  who  had  seen 
and  pitied  his  condition,  that  he  might  receive  his  sight,  and 
be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Saying  this,  Ananias  laid  his 
hands  upon  his  eyes ;  and  instantly  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  the 
darkening  films  fell  from  them,  and  his  sight  was  completely 
restored.  Saul  then  lost  no  time  in  evincing  the  new  convic- 
tions which  had  entered  his  heart.  At  the  word  of  Ananias, 
he  arose  from  the  posture  of  humble  resignation  in  which  he 
had  lain,  and  was  baptized,  calling  upon  the  name  of  that 
Lord  who  had  so  signally  revealed  himself  to  him.  Through- 
out this  interview,  it  is  observable  that  Ananias  does  not  say 
a  word  for  the  instruction  of  the  convert,  nor  does  he  ask  him 
any  question  as  to  the  measure  of  his  knowledge  or  the  state 
of  his  mind.  He  knew  already  that  Saul  had  been  taught  of 
God,  and  needed  no  teaching  of  his.  The  case  reminds  one, 
ilustratively  of  the  practice  in  Germany,  where,  if  a  person 
who  has  already  obtained  the  high  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity, 
desires  to  undertake  the  pastoral  office,  he  is  ordained  without 
the  examinations  which  all  others  must  undergo.* 

*  In  explanation  of  what  may  sound  strangely  in  this  statement,  the 
reader  may  be  reminded  that  degrees  are  academical,  not  ecclesiastical 
distinctions.  Even  in  the  Church  of  England,  degrees  are  not  essential 
to  "orders ;"  and  in  Germany,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  is  often 
held  by  distinguished  Biblical  scholars  and  professors,  who  are  not 
clergymen.  Thus,  the  degree  of  D.D.  was  lately  conferred  on  Chevalier 
Bunsen,  the  Prussian  ambassador  to  our  Court,  who  had  been  previ- 
ously Doctor  in  Philosophy  (Ph.  D.),  which  is  equivalent  to  our  Master 
of  Arts.  Thus  also,  Tholuck  was  Doctor  in  Divinity,  and  Professor  of 
Theology,  before  his  ordination  to  the  ministry,  which,  consequently 
took  place  without  the  usual  examinations. 


INCIDENTS    OF    SAUL'S    CONVERSION.  119 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

INCIDENTS    OF    SAUL's    CONVERSION. ACTS   IX.  1-8  ; 

xxii.  5-16  ;  xxvi.  12-18. 

We  now  wish  to  call  attention  to  some  circumstances  in  the 
narrative  of  Saul's  conversion,  which  last  evening  we  did  not 
pause  to  consider. 

That  the  Jews  were  as  numerous  at  Damascus,  as  the  com- 
mission of  Saul  and  its  results  imply,  is  not  left  to  mere  con- 
jecture, or  to  deduction  from  the  narrative  itself.  The  fact  is 
attested  by  Josephus,  who  declares  that,  during  the  Jewish 
war,  when  the  inhabitants  of  many  heathen  cities  committed 
barbarous  executions  upon  the  Jews  residing  among  them,  the 
Damascenes  slew  in  one  hour  no  less  than  ten  thousand  Jews. 
And  he  intimates,  that  they  kept  the  design  secret  from  their 
wives,  lest  they  should  interpose  to  prevent  it,  as  the  women 
were  generally  favorable  to  the  Jewish  religiou.  If  that  were 
the  case,  there  was  no  doubt  a  corresponding  proportion  also 
favorable  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  in  this  circumstance 
we  may  possibly  detect  a  studied  emphasis  in  the  intimation, 
that  not  only  men  but  "  women"  were  included  in  the  op- 
eration of  Saul's  commission.  But  if  they  were  compre- 
hended in  the  order  that  the  prisoners  should  be  brought 
"  bound,"  or  in  chains,  to  Jerusalem,  this  would  strongly  show 
the  rabid  animosity  of  the  Sanhedrim  against  the  religion  of 
Jesus,  for  this  barbarity  to  females  had  long  been  banished 
among  all  nations.  The  old  Assyrians  were  anything  but  a 
humane  people,  but  among  even  their  sculptures  in  which 
female  captives  are  represented,  we  do  not  find '  any  who  are 
in  bonds.  On  another  occasion,  some  time  subsequent  to  the 
former,  18,000  Jews,  with  their  wives  and  children,  were  slain 
at  the  same  place,  apparently  on  no  other  ground  than  their 
sympathy  with  their  brethren  in  Judea,  who  were  in  arms 
against  the  Romans.  The  interval  between  these  massacres 
was  so  short,  that  we  must  suppose  that  the  numbers  represent 


120  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

contemporary  and  not  successive  populations.  If,  therefore, 
we  take  these  18,000  to  have  been  adult  males,  as  appears 
from  women  and  children  being  in  the  latter  account  distin- 
guished, and  add  the  usual  proportion  of  females  and  children, 
we  can  see  that  the  Jewish  population  of  Damascus  was  great 
indeed,  especially  as  there  seems  no  reason  to  suppose  that  all 
the  Jews  in  the  city  were  slain  on  these  two  occasions 

It  seems  strange  at  the  first  view,  that  the  high-priest  and 
the  Sanhedrim  at  Jerusalem  should  be  able  to  exercise  author- 
ity in  a  foreign  city  like  Damascus.  The  fact  that  they  did  so, 
according  to  the  tenor  of  Saul's  commission,  is  asserted  over 
and  over  again,  and  is  corroborated  by  Ananias,  who,  when 
spoken  to  respecting  Saul,  had  heard  that  "  Here  (at  Damas- 
cus) he  hath  authority  from  the  chief  priests  to  bind  all  that 
call  upon  thy  name."  The  fact  is  that  the  authority  of  the 
high-priest  and  the  Sanhedrim  was  acknowledged  by  the  Jews 
wherever  they  lived ;  and  it  was  usual  for  those  dispersed  in 
foreign  countries  to  receive  orders  and  instructions  by  letter 
from  the  great  council  at  Jerusalem,  which  orders  they  very 
exactly  followed — just  as  now  the  authority  of  the  Pope  is, 
as  a  rule,  universally  submitted  to  by  Roman  Catholics,  even 
though  living  in  Protestant  countries.  There  can,  therefore, 
be  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  the  rulers  of  the  synagogues 
at  Damascus  would  readily  comply  with  the  import  of  any 
letters  sent  to  them  from  the  great  council,  and  would  willing- 
ly assist  its  commissioner  in  apprehending  and  conveying  to 
Jerusalem  the  persons  designated  in  his  letters.  The  only 
difficulty  is,  whether  the  magistrates  at  Damascus  would  suf- 
fer the  Jews  to  imprison  their  subjects,  and  take  them  to  Je- 
rusalem to  be  punished.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  with 
whatever  differences  of  local  administration,  Damascus  and 
Jerusalem  were  virtually  under  the  same  general  government 
— that  of  Rome.  Now  the  Romans  had  granted  to  the  Jews 
the  privilege  of  living  everywhere  according  to  their  own 
iaws.  This,  doubtless,  included  a  permission  to  scourge  and 
to  use  other  minor  punishments  in  the  synagogues  ;  and  also 
to  apprehend  and  send  to  Jerusalem  greater  delinquents,  who 


INCIDENTS    OF   SAUl's    CONVERSION.  121 

were  deemed  to  deserve  more  severe  correction.  "We  know 
that  included  permission  to  send  annually,  from  every  part  of 
the  empire,  large  sums  to  Jerusalem,  which,  in  the  view  of  the 
Romans,  was  a  matter  of  much  greater  consequence  than 
their  sending  now  and  then  a  delinquent  to  be  punished.  The 
amount  of  these  collections  was  so  great,  that  the  governors 
of  the  provinces  were  sometimes  uneasy  respecting  it,  and  ven- 
tured to  seize  the  money,  and  lay  an  injunction  upon  the  Jews 
within  their  jurisdiction  to  send  no  more.  Cicero,  in  his  ora- 
tion pro  Flacco,  testifies  that  Flaccus  did  this  in  Asia.  Titus, 
in  his  speech  to  the  Jews  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  men- 
tions these  indulgences  they  had  received  from  the  Romans, 
and  dwells  with  much  emphasis  upon  the  last  of  them : — "  But, 
above  all,  we  suffered  you  to  raise  a  tribute  and  collect  offer- 
ings for  the  Deity,  and  neither  admonished  nor  forbade  those 
who  offered  them,  although  you,  our  enemies,  thus  became 
richer  than  ourselves,  and  armed  yourselves  against  us  with 
our  own  money."  He  therefore  regards  this  as  a  more  im- 
portant mark  of  Roman  indulgence  than  allowing  them  the 
use  of  their  own  laws,  even  in  foreign  lands,  to  which  he  had 
previously  referred. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Jews  had  a  court  of  their  own 
wherever  any  considerable  number  of  them  resided,  to  decide 
all  religious  controversies,  and  matters  involving  the  observ- 
ances and  obligations  of  their  law.  There  are  documents  in 
Josephus  which  show  the  existence  of  such  courts  ;  and  there 
are  others — decrees  of  Julius  Caesar — which  constitute  the  Jew- 
ish rulers  patrons  of  their  people  in  foreign  parts,  and  which, 
in  all  probability,  included  the  privilege  of  appeal  to  them 
from  the  decisions  of  the  local  courts.  It  is  true  that  these 
grants  were  made  to  Hyrcanus,  at  that  time  prince  and  high- 
priest  of  the  Jews ;  but  there  is  a  later  decree  of  Augustus, 
confirming  to  the  Jews  all  the  rights  and  privileges  they  en- 
joyed in  the  time  of  Hyrcanus. 

It  may  thus  be  gathered  that  the  magistrates  of  Damascus 
were  not  likely  to  offer  any  opposition  to  proceedings  in  their 

VOL.    IV.  6 


122  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

city,  which  had  the  authority  and  sanction  of  the  Jerusalem 
Sanhedrim. 

A  question  arises  as  to  the  blindness  with  which  Saul  was 
afflicted.  Was  it  natural  or  supernatural  ?  He  says  himself, 
in  Acts  xxii.  11,  that  it  was  caused  by  the  light  he  witnessed. 
"  I  could  not  see  for  the  glory  of  that  light ;"  it  was  therefore 
so  far  natural ;  but  the  light  which  produced  it  being  super- 
natural, the  blindness  was  therefore,  so  far,  supernatural  also. 
The  only  difficulty  to  this  view  of  the  matter  arises  from  the 
fact,  that  although  those  who  were  with  him  are  expressly  stat- 
ed to  have  seen  the  light,  they  were  not  blinded  by  it.  To 
this  it  may  be  answered,  that  they  could  not  have  been  on  ex- 
actly the  same  spot  of  ground  as  Saul,  and  although  they  saw 
the  light,  it  did  not  smite  them  so  fully  in  the  face  as  in  his — 
did  not  take  their  eyes  in  such  full  glare  as  his. 

It  is  certainly  possible  for  an  intense  sudden  light  so  to  af- 
fect the  optic  nerve  as  to  cause  blindness.  Indeed,  every  one 
has  in  some  measure  realized  this  experience,  in  being  conscious 
of  a  momentary  blindness  after  having  gazed  at  the  sun,  or 
into  a  furnace,  or  upon  metal  at  a  white  heat.  A  total  loss  of 
sight  has  also  often  been  caused  by  a  sudden  flash  of  light- 
ning, by  gazing  at  the  sun  during  an  eclipse,  or  by  looking  at 
it  as  it  sets  in  the  west.  In  all  these  cases  the  organ  remains 
to  all  appearance  perfect,  although  the  sight  has  totally  depart- 
ed. In  Persia,  where  blinding  as  a  punishment  used  to  be 
frightfully  common,  it  was  formerly  inflicted  by  a  piece  of 
metal  at  a  white  heat  being  held  before  the  eyes.  But  it 
being  eventually  found  that  under  this  process  a  faint  glim- 
mering of  light  was  still  perceptible,  the  mode  was  exchanged 
for  the  total  extirpation  of  the  organ. 

The  blindness  of  Saul,  although  certainly  a  special  provi- 
dence towards  him,  may  thus  have  been  naturally  produced 
in  the  sense  explained.  But  the  cure  was  certainly  miraculous. 
The  blindness  thus  produced  is  a  species  of  gutta  serena,  and 
is  accounted  less  curable  than  almost  any  other  form  of  that 
calamity.  It  was  Milton's  blindness,  though  differently  pro- 
duced ;  and  in  speaking  of  it  he  says : — 


EVIDENCE    FROM    SAUL'S    CONVERSION.  123 

"  Thee  I  revisit  safe, 
And  feel  thy  sov'reign  vital  lamp :  but  thou 
Revisit'st  not  these  eyes,  that  roll  in  vain 
To  find  thy  piercing  ray,  and  find  no  dawn ; 
So  thick  a  drop  serene  hath  quenched  their  orbs, 
Or  dim  suffusion  veil'd." 

Paradise  Lost,  iii.  21-26. 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

EVIDENCE    FROM  SAUL'S    CONVERSION. ACTS    IX.  1-8  ; 

xxii.  5-16;  xxvi.  12-18. 

We  should  lose  much  of  the  advantage  the  narrative  of 
Saul's  conversion  was  doubtless  intended  to  convey,  if  we  neg- 
lected to  notice  the  conclusive  testimony  to  the  truth  and  power 
of  the  Gospel,  which  it  affords.  He  was  himself  so  deeplv 
conscious  of  this,  so  sensible  of  the  impression  it  ought  to  pro- 
duce, that  he  uses  it  as  a  favorite  argument  in  his  preaching, 
and  it  forms  the  main  subject  of  two  (Acts  xxii.,  xxvi.)  out  of 
the  five  discourses  of  his  which  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  has 
preserved,  without  mentioning  the  repeated  allusions  to  it  in 
his  epistles.  He  demands  of  the  Jews,  he  demands  of  Agrippa, 
he  demands  of  the  churches,  he  demands  of  all,  the  sentiments 
that  ought  to  be  awakened  in  any  truthful  heart,  by  so  glori- 
ous an  interposition  on  the  part  of  God  in  favor  of  the  doctrine 
of  Jesus  Christ.  And  he  has  reason  to  make  this  demand, 
for,  as  an  eloquent  writer  observes,*  "  Next  to  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Gospel 
history  has  no  testimony  which  equals  the  conversion  of  Saul 
of  Tarsus.  It  has  been  felt  in  all  ages ;  and  many  a  reflective 
mind,  hitherto  unmoved,  has  yielded  to  the  power  of  this  page 
of  the  Gospel."  The  author  here  certainly  alludes  to  Lord 
Lyttleton,  with  whose  writings  he  evinces  an  acquaintance. 

*  St.  Paul  :  Five  Discourses.  By  the  Rev.  Adolphe  Monod.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Barrett.     London,  1853. 


124  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK THURSDAY. 

That  nobleman  became  himself  a  sincere  convert  from  skepti* 
cal  or  uncertain  views,  under  the  influence  of  the  considera- 
tions presented  to  his  mind  in  the  attentive  study  of  that 
page ;  and  in  his  Essay  on  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  he 
has  left  to  the  world  a  memorable  and  ingenuous  work  in  which, 
the  proofs  for  Christianity  furnished  by  this  event  are  most 
convincingly  produced.  The  substance  of  this  argument,  with, 
some  additional  considerations  interspersed,  may  be  fitly  pre- 
sented to  the  readers  of  this  work. 

It  must  of  necessity  be  that  a  person  attesting  these  things 
of  himself  was  either  an  impostor  or  an  enthusiast — one  who 
deceived  himself,  or  was  deceived  by  the  fraud  of  others,  or 
that  what  he  declared  did  really  happen,  and  therefore  that 
Christianity  is  a  Divine  revelation. 

That  he  was  not  an  impostor  can  be  shown  by  proving  that 
he  had  no  rational  motives,  nor  any  means,  to  carry  on  such 
an  imposture.  If  he  expected  to  gratify  his  temporal  interest 
or  ambition,  he  would  be  mistaken ;  for  the  death  of  Christ 
had  made  no  impression  upon  the  chief  priests  and  rulers,  and 
these  were  his  masters,  from  whom  alone  he  must  have  looked 
for  promotion.  Nay,  they  had  begun  a  severe  persecution 
against  the  followers  of  Christ,  in  which  he  had  himself  taken 
an  active  part. 

It  was  at  this  instant  of  time,  and  under  these  circumstances, 
that  he  became  a  convert. 

What  could  be  his  motives  ?  Was  it  the  hope  of  increasing 
his  wealth  ?  The  certain  consequence  of  taking  the  part  he 
did,  was  not  only  the  loss  of  all  he  had,  but  of  all  hope  of 
acquiring  more.  Those  whom  he  left  were  the  dispensers  of 
wealth,  of  dignity,  of  power,  in  Judea :  those  to  whom  he 
went  were  indigent  men,  oppressed,  and  kept  down  from  all 
means  of  improving  their  fortunes.  Therefore,  however  such 
expectations  may  have  been  connected  with  his  fir&t  conduct, 
they  could  not  have  been  grounded  on  his  second.  Reputa- 
tion, honor  also — all  this  lay  on  the  side  that  he  forsook.  The 
sect  that  he  embraced  lay  under  the  greatest  and  most  univer- 
sal contempt  of  any  then  in  the  world.     Was  it,  then,  the  love 


EVIDENCE    FROM    SAUL'S    CONVERSION.  125 

of  power  that  prompted  his  behavior  ?  Power  over  whom  ? 
Over  a  flock  of  sheep  driven  to  the  slaughter,  and  whose 
shepherd  had  been  murdered  but  a  short  time  before.  Be- 
sides, he  assumed  no  peculiar  pre-eminence  in  the  church.  On 
the  contrary,  he  declared  himself  the  least  of  the?n,  and  less 
than  the  least  of  all  saints.  Neither  did  he  attempt  to  make 
any  innovations  in  government  or  in  civil  affairs ;  he  meddled 
not  with  legislation,  he  formed  no  commonwealths,  he  raised 
no  seditions,  he  affected  no  temporal  power.  Obedience  to 
their  rulers  was  the  doctrine  he  preached  to  the  churches  he 
planted,  and  what  he  taught  to  others  he  practised  himself. 
The  reason  why  he  interested  himself  so  deeply  for  his  con- 
verts was,  as  he  tells  them,  that  they  might  be  "  blameless  and 
harmless,  the  sons  of  God  without  rebuke,  in  the  midst  of  a 
crooked  and  perverse  generation,  among  whom  ye  shine  as 
lights  in  the  world,  holding  forth  the  word  of  life,  that  I  may 
rejoice  in  the  day  of  Christ,  that  I  have  not  run  in  vain,  neither 
labored  in  vain,  ^ea,  and  if  I  be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice 
and  service  of  your  faith,  I  joy  and  rejoice  with  you  all."  Are 
these  the  words  of  an  imposter,  desiring  nothing  but  temporal 
power  ?  No,  they  are  evidently  written  by  one  who  looked 
beyond  the  bounds  of  this  life ;  one  "  who  preached  not  him- 
self, but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord."  And  all  this  was  done  in 
true  humbleness  of  mind ;  for  although  he  had  the  advantage 
of  higher  education  and  superior  learning,  he  made  no  im- 
proper use  of  these  attainments,  either  by  claiming  a  superi- 
ority over  the  other  apostles,  or  by  setting  at  nought  those 
less  learned  than  himself.  "  I  came  not,"  he  says,  "  with  ex- 
cellency of  speech  or  of  wisdom,  but  determined  to  know 
nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  that  your  faith 
should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of 
God." 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  by  the  change  he  made,  Saul  had 
nothing  to  gain,  but  had  everything  to  give  up.  He  gave  up 
an  advancing  fortune,  and  a  high  reputation.  He  gave  up  his 
friends,  his  relatives,  and  his  family.  He  gave  up  his  religion. 
And  in  return  for  these  relinquishments  for  Christ,  he  had 


126  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK THURSDAY. 

from  man  everything  to  fear.  Whoever  would  profess  the 
gospel  under  such  circumstances,  without  the  clearest  conviction 
of  its  being  a  Divine  revelation,  must  have  been  mad ;  and  if 
he  made  others  profess  it  by  fraud  and  deceit,  he  must  have 
been  worse  than  mad ;  for  no  man  with  the  least  spark  of 
humanity  in  his  bosom  could  subject  his  fellow-creatures  to  so 
many  miseries  as  he  knew  must  inevitably  ensue,  nor  could 
any  man  in  whose  mind  the  smallest  ray  of  reason  gleamed, 
expose  himself  to  share  them  with  those  he  deceived,  in  order 
to  advance  a  religion  which  he  knew  to  be  false. 

As  Saul  had  no  rational  motives,  so  he  had  no  rational 
means  of  making  an  imposture  successful.  He  had  no  associ- 
ates. Not  even  the  apostles  were  in  any  confederacy  with  him. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  probable,  nay,  it  is  impossible,  that  he 
should  solely  contend  with  the  power  of  the  magistrates,  the 
influence  of  the  priests,  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  or  the 
wisdom  and  pride  of  the  philosophers. 

By  the  same  kind  of  reasoning,  it  can  be  shown  that  Saul 
was  no  enthusiast.  He  had  upon  him  none  of  the  usual  marks 
of  such  a  character.  He  possessed,  indeed,  a  manifest  warmth 
of  temper ;  but  it  was  at  all  times  under  the  control  of  his 
judgment.  Neither  melancholy,  ignorance,  credulity,  vanity, 
nor  self-conceit,  could  be  imputed  to  him.  Besides,  a  mere 
enthusiast  could  never  perform  real  miracles,  as  this  man  in 
many  instances  did. 

Still  it  may  be,  and  it  has  been,  urged,  that  a  man  so  ar- 
dent as  Saul,  might  be  very  well  able,  without  any  very  ma- 
ture deliberation,  to  pass  from  one  sphere  of  religious  fanati- 
cism to  another.  But,  as  M.  Monod  remarks,  this  hypothesis 
cannot  be  maintained  after  five  minutes'  reflection  by  any  one 
who  calls  to  mind  what  the  apostle  Saul  was.  Saul  had  quite 
enough  wherewith  to  satisfy  his  religious  enthusiasm  in  his 
Judaic  and  Pharisaic  faith,  whilst  in  becoming  a  disciple  of 
Jesus  Christ,  he  lays  all  that  down,  and  instead  of  entering 
into  a  new  fanaticism,  he  quarrels  with  the  old  one.  Strange 
fanaticism  in  truth  is  this,  of  a  man  who,  on  occasions  the 
most  exciting,  uses  language  stamped  with  "  truth  and  sober- 


EVIDENCE    FROM    SAUL'S    CONVERSION.  127 

ness ;"  of  a  man  who  undertakes  everything  with  the  most 
consummate  prudence,  jealous  of  all  his  rights,  both  social  and 
civil,  either  when  they  serve  the  cause  of  the  Gospel,  or  when 
they  may  save  him  from  needless  sorrow;  of  a  man  who, 
when  the  interests  of  his  ministry  require  it,  goes  to  the  ut- 
most verge  of  concession  that  wisdom  counsels,  or  that  con- 
science authorizes;  "weak  with  the  weak,  a  Jew  with  the 
Jews,  without  law  to  those  who  were  without  law  ;"  of  a  man, 
in  short,  who  pursues  his  ministry  for  thirty  years  in  the  same 
spirit,  who  is  not  awakened  from  his  dream  even  by  the  pros- 
pect of  martyrdom,  which,  like  his  Master  before  him,  he  has 
taken  care  to  postpone,  although  willing  to  undergo  it  when 
the  hour  of  God  was  come.     1  Cor.  ix.  20-22. 

If,  then,  Saul  did  not  deceive  himself,  it  is  still  less  likely 
that  he  should  be  deceived  by  others.  It  was  impossible  for 
the  disciples  of  Christ  to  conceive  such  a  thought  as  that  of 
turning  his  persecutor  into  an  apostle,  and  to  do  this  by  fraud 
in  the  very  instant  of  his  greatest  fury  against  them  and  their 
Lord.  If  they  had  even  thought  of  such  a  conversion,  they 
could  not  have  effected  it  in  this  way.  They  could  not  have 
produced  a  light  in  the  air  greater  than  that  of  mid-day  sun ; 
they  could  not  first  have  made  him  blind,  and  then  restored 
him  to  sight ;  above  all,  no  fraud  of  others  could  have  enabled 
him  to  produce  the  miracles  he  performed  after  his  conversion. 

It  appears,  then,  as  the  result  of  all  these  arguments,  that 
Saul  neither  deceived  himself,  nor  was  deceived  by  the  fraud 
of  others ;  that  he  was  no  impostor  nor  enthusiast ;  and  then 
it  follows  that  what  he  related  to  be  the  cause  of  his  conver- 
sion, and  to  have  happened  in  consequence  of  it,  did  really 
happen,  and  therefore  that  the  Christian  religion  is,  what  it 
claims  to  be — a  Divine  revelation. 

Let  us  add,  that  the  great  moral  fact — the  change,  complete 
and  sudden,  which  made  Saul  stand  up  to  do  the  work  of  an 
apostle  in  the  same  city  to  which  he  had  so  lately  come  to  do 
the  work  of  a  destroyer,  can  only  be  accounted  for,  becomes 
unintelligible  without  the  supernatural  circumstances  with 
which  both  Luke  and  Saul  himself  have  invested  it.     The 


128  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

fact  of  the  change  is  certain ;  and  there  is  no  other  way  of 
accounting  for  it  but  that  in  which  it  is  accounted  for.  "  If 
the  Gospel  is  true,  if  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  if 
God  has  interposed,  all  is  explained.  God  is  not  prodigal  of 
miracles ;  but  we  can  easily  understand  that  He  will  have  re- 
course to  them,  in  order  to  furnish  such  a  demonstration  of 
4he  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  accredit  such  a  minister. 
But  if  God  did  not  interpose,  if  Jesus  Christ  is  not  his  son, 
how  is  this  transformation  of  character  to  be  explained  ?"* 


FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

DAMASCUS. ACTS  IX.  19. 

On  a  former  evening,  an  allusion  was  made  to  the  first  view 
of  the  city  of  Damascus  which  a  traveller  obtains.  That  view 
has  been  celebrated  in  all  ages ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  few,  per- 
haps the  only  one,  after  Constantinople  (which  is,  however, 
altogether  different),  that  does  not  disappoint  the  expectations 
which  the  most  glowing  descriptions  excite.  Every  traveller 
still  speaks  of  it  with  rapture,  and  acknowledges  that  its  beau- 
ty 

"  Far  exceedeth  the  report 

Of  lavish  tongues." 

The  latest  description  of  it  is  this  : — 

"  A  scene  of  beauty  and  verdure  hung  on  my  view,  for 
which,  with  all  my  expectations,  I  was  unprepared.  At  my 
feet  lay  Damascus,  embowered  in  its  evergreen  forests,  as  the 
poet  describes  it,  '  A  diamond  set  round  with  emeralds.'  The 
morning  sun  lighted  up  its  white  walls,  and  glanced  from  its 
polished  domes,  and  the  gilded  crescents  of  its  hundred  mina- 
rets. Gardens  and  orchards  teeming  with  fruit-trees  of  almost 
every  species  surround  the  city,  and  spread  far  away  over  the 
plain.  An  enchanting  variety,  too,  is  given  to  this  panorama 
*  Monod. 


DAMASCUS.  129 

of  verdure — the  foliage  of  these  plantations  exhibiting  every 
tint  of  color,  from  the  sombre  hue  of  the  olive,  and  the  deep 
green  of  the  cypress  and  the  walnut,  to  the  auburn  of  the 
apricot,  and  the  reddening  shade  of  the  pomegranate,  and  the 
white  and  glistening  leaves  of  the  poplar.  And  the  view  is 
as  extensive  as  it  is  beautiful.  Towards  the  west,  over  the 
low  range  that  bounds  the  plain,  towers  the  lofty  Hermon, 
the  hoary-headed  chief  of  the  Eastern  hills.  An  undulating 
country,  watered  by  the  '  Pharpar,'  stretches  along  its  base. 
Southward,  the  low  chain  of  the  Jeb-el-Aswad,  and  the  loftier 


hills  of  Mani'a  rise  beyond,  while  far  away  in  the  distance 
may  be  seen  the  dim  and  blue  outline  of  Jebel  Hauran.  On 
the  south-east  there  is  nothing  to  arrest  the  eye,  save -the  dim 
and  quivering  haze  that  hovers  over  the  burning  desert.  East- 
ward, the  morning  sun  is  reflected  from  the  waters  of  the 
Bahr-el-Merj  [the  Lake  of  the  Meadow]  and  beyond  it  is  a 
clump  of  hills,  whose  graceful  summits  rise  up  with  clear  out- 
line from  the  mists  that  veil  their  bases.  To  the  north-east 
runs  a  long  line  of  hills  towards  Tadmor  in  the  wilderness. 

"  The  fertility  and  beauty  of  this  vast  plain,  and  the  very 
sxistence  of  the  city  itself,  depend  entirely  on  the  waters  of 

6* 


130  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK FRIDAY. 

the  Barada  (Abana).  Before  entering  the  plain,  four  large 
canals  are  led  off  from  it  at  different  elevations.  These  are 
carried  along  the  precipices  on  each  side  of  the  stream,  and 
are  often  hewed  out  and  tunnelled  in  the  solid  rock.  Two 
others  are  taken  from  the  river  before  it  enters  the  city,  and 
many  more  further  down.  These  spread  the  waters  over  the 
plrin  in  every  direction.  Where  no  water  can  be  had  for  irri- 
gation, the  j)lain  is  a  desert.  The  river  itself  flows  in  a  wind- 
ing course  through  orchards  and  meadows  till  it  enters  the 
city.  Within  the  walls,  the  banks  are  shut  in  by  mason-work, 
and  in  many  places  the  bed  of  the  river  is  arched  over.  It 
flows  along  the  walls  of  the  ancient  castle,  within  which  the 
mortal  remains  of  the  great  Saladin  were  first  committed  to 
the  tomb.  It  then  continues  its  course  along  the  ancient  city 
wall  to  the  '  gate  of  peace,'  where  it  emerges  from  the  more 
modern  suburb.  Thence  it  flows  through  gardens  parallel  to 
the  city  wall,  to  '  Thomas's  Gate,'  and  afterwards  flows  due 
east  across  the  plain."* 

Another  travellerf  not  inaptly  compares  the  distant  view  of 
Damascus  to  that  of  "a  vast  fleet  anchored  far  oft*  in  a  sea  of 
green."  The  same  traveller,  an  American  divine,  is  naturally 
most  impressed  by  the  Biblical  associations  of  the  scene.  He 
says : — "  I  paused  to  look  upon  the  scene.  Men  had  dwelt 
there  so  long,  that  it  seemed  the  original  home  of  the  human 
family.];  It  had  never  been  desolate  since  the  first  shepherd 
arrived  with  his  flocks  from  the  Euphrates,  and  pitched  his 
tents  by  the  two  crystal  floods  of  the  Abana  and  Pharpar. 

*  Rev.  R.  L.  Porter,  " Rivers  of  Damascus"  in  "  Journal  of  Sacred 
Literature"  for  July,  1853. 

f  Observations  in  the  East  By  John  P.  Durbin,  D.D.  New  York, 
1845.  The  description  of  Damascus  contained  in  this  work  is  perhaps 
the  best  that  can  be  found.  The  modern  history  of  the  city  is  given  at 
some  length  in  Mr.  Addison's  Damascus  and  Palmyra. 

%  "  Within  a  day's  ride,  tradition  has  placed  the  house  of  Abraham, 
the  tombs  of  Elijah,  Moses,  Noah,  Seth,  and  Abel,  and,  I  believe, 
claims  also  that  Adam  was  made  of  the  red  earth  found  in  the  neigh- 
borhood." 


DAMASCUS.  131 

Looking  upon  the  transparent  waters,  they  seem  to  apologize 
for  'Naaman  the  leper,'  when,  mortified  and  indignant,  he 
turned  away  from  the  '  prophet  in  Samaria,'  who  had  directed 
him  to  'dip  himself  seven  times  in  Jordan,'  and  exclaimed, 
'  Are  not  the  waters  of  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damas- 
cus, better  than  all  the  waters  in  Israel,  may  I  not  wash  in 
them  and  be  clean  V  Surely  he  was  right,  if  a  comparison  of 
waters  was  to  decide  the  question.  He  knew  not  the  power 
of  God  until  his  servant  ventured  to  say,  '  My  father,  if  the 
prophet  had  bid  thee  do  some  great  thing,  wouldst  thou  not 
have  done  it  ?     How  much  rather,  then,  wash  and  be  clean.' 

"  My  eye  wandered  over  the  space  to  the  south  of  the  city ; 
and  as  I  gazed  over  the  peaceful  plain  where  the  furious  Saul 
was  struck  down,  and  looked  up  into  the  calm,  clear  heaven, 
whence  descended  the  celestial  voice  of  the  ascended  Saviour, 
I  felt  that  I,  a  wanderer  from  a  world  then  unknown,  might  be 
a  spiritual  child  of  him  who  was  here  made  an  apostle,  and 
afterwards  sent  '  far  away  to  the  Gentiles.'  The  mission  of 
Paul  commenced  at  Damascus,  which  may  be  called  the  spirit- 
ual mother  of  Gentile  Christianity." 

Local  tradition  professes  to  be  able  to  point  out  the  precise 
spot  where  Saul  fell  blinded  to  the  earth.  It  occurs  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  eastern  gate  of  the  town,  in  the  midst 
of  an  unenclosed  cemetery.  The  Christians  of  Damascus  have 
long  since  marked  their  veneration  for  the  spot,  by  making  it 
the  place  of  burial  for  their  dead.  The  present  road  is  here 
purposely  diverted  from  the  direct  course  for  a  few  yards,  leav- 
ing apart  the  spot  which  was  the  alleged  scene  of  Saul's  con- 
version. The  spot  thus  respected  is  evidently  a  portion  of  the 
ancient  road,  consisting  entirely  of  firmly-embedded  pebbles, 
which,  having  never  been  broken  up,  stands  alone,  like  the 
fragment  of  an  elevated  causeway.  The  sides  have  been  grad- 
ually lowered,  by  numerous  pilgrims,  who,  from  year  to  year, 
have  taken  away  the  pebbles  to  preserve  as  relics.  A  wide 
arch-like  excavation  through  the  midst  of  this  causeway,  pro- 
duced by  the  same  superstitious  industry,  bears  some  resem- 
blance to  a  dismantled  bridge;  and  it  is  regarded  by  the 


xS2  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

native  Christians  as  an  act  of  devotion  to  pass  through  this 
aperture. 

In  many  Levantine  towns  there  is  a  street — not  always  the 
principal  street — traversing  the  length  of  the  city  in  a  tolera- 
bly straight  line,  and  usually  called  Straight  Street — like 
Strada  Stretta  in  Malta.  "  The  street  which  is  called  Straight" 
still  exists  in  Damascus  under  the  same  name.  It  is  the  most 
important  and  capacious  street  in  Damascus,  running  from  east 
to  west,  and  has  long  been  one  of  the  busiest  scenes  of  Eastern 
commerce  within  the  city.  The  reputed  "house  of  Judas," 
with  whom  Saul  lodged,  is  still  shown  and  visited.  Like  most 
of  the  "  holy  places"  in  Syria,  it  is  a  vault  below  ground,  con- 
verted into  a  small  chapel  or  oratory,  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  Latins.  Even  the  house  in  which  Ananias  lived,  and  in 
which  he  is  said  to  have  been  buried,  is  also  shown.  It  lies 
northward  of  the  Straight  street,  and  the  site  offers  a  little 
half  underground  chapel,  common  to  all  Christians,  and  ex- 
hibiting Latin  pictures  and  Greek  crosses.  Close  at  hand  is  a 
fountain  from  which  the  water  used  for  baptizing  the  apostle, 
is  alleged  to  have  been  brought.  It  will  be  seen  that  these, 
like  other  local  traditions,  involve  absurdities  not  worth  ex- 
posure. Probably,  however,  these  "  houses"  are  only  repre- 
sented as  the  substructions  or  cellars  of  the  respective  dwell- 
ings of  Judas  and  Ananias. 

Some  have  wondered  at  the  scarcity  of  ancient  remains  in 
Damascus,  seeing  it  is  perhaps  the  oldest  inhabited  city  in  the 
world.  But  it  is  probably  for  the  very  reason  that  it  has 
always  been  a  peopled  place  that  so  few  traces  of  ancient 
buildings  are  found;  man  being  a  greater  destroyer  of  old 
things  than  time.  The  oldest  standing  building  is  the  Byzan- 
tine Church  of  St.  John,  now  the  chief  mosque  of  the  city, 
and  the  dome  of  which  figures  conspicuously  in  all  the  views 
of  Damascus.  Of  any  earlier  period  there  is  nothing  but 
portions  of  wall ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  gate  at  the  eastern 
end  of  Straight  street,  called  the  gate  of  the  sun-rising,  which 
looks  like  a  Roman  work,  may  have  been  there  in  the  time  of 
Paul.     There  is  much  appearance  of  dilapidation  and  of  ruined 


DAMASCUS.  133 

houses  in  Damascus.  This  is  also  the  case  in  most  other  Ori- 
ental cities  of  importance.  But  this  less  strongly  argues  decline 
in  an  Eastern  than  in  a  Western  city  ;  the  Orientals  generally, 
and  the  Turks  in  particular,  being  adverse  to  the  repair  of  old 
houses,  and  more  inclined  to  build  new  ones  for  themselves, 
under  some  superstitious  notion  that  it  is  more  fortuuate  to 
begin  life  in  a  new  house.  There  might  be  some  sense  in  this, 
if,  as  with  us,  domestic  architecture  improved  from  age  to  age, 
and  new  houses  contained  adaptations  to  health  and  comfort 
not  to  be  found  in  those  that  are  old.  But  the  Orientals  go 
on  building  as  their  fathers  did  ;  and  their  fancy  is  not  for  im- 
proved houses,  but  for  new  houses — merely  as  new.  Not- 
withstanding the  decline  of  Damascus,  of  which  unthoughtful 
travellers  talk,  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  it  is  now  fully  as 
populous  as  at  any  former  period ;  and  it  is  enough  to  the 
discredit  of  the  East  to  assume  that  the  population  of  this 
great  city  has  not  increased,  while  that  of  Western  metropoli- 
tan cities  has  risen  from  tens  to  hundreds  of  thousands,  and 
from  hundreds  of  thousands  to  millions.  The  most  recent  es- 
timate, given  by  the  Rev.  R.  L.  Porter  in  the  "Journal  of  Sa- 
cred Literature,"  makes  the  total  population  "  which  resides 
in  the  district  rendered  habitable  by  the  waters  of  the  ancient 
Abana,"  to  be  "at  the  lowest  estimate"  150,000,  of  which 
108,579  belong  to  the  city  of  Damascus.  This  being  a  some- 
what rigid  calculation,  probably  adequately  corresponds  to  the 
proverbially  loose  and  vague  estimates  of  the  Oriental  histo- 
rians, who  in  former  times  ascribed  to  Damascus  a  population 
varying  from  150,000  to  200,000. 

The  streets  of  Damascus  are  narrow,  crooked,  badly  paved, 
and  of  irregular  width.  The  houses  are  of  unequal  height, 
from  two  to  four  stories,  built  occasionally. of  stone,  but  gen- 
erally of  sun-dried  mud  bricks,  and  without  any  windows  near 
the  ground.  The  second  story,  and  sometimes  the  third,  usu- 
ally extends  two  or  three  feet  over  the  street,  resting  upon  the 
exposed  ends  of  the  joists,  and  supported  by  braces  made  of 
roughly  hewn  and  sometimes  unhewn  pieces  of  wood.  Any 
windows  in  these  stories  towards  the  street  are  of  close  lattice- 


134  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

work ;  and  as  few  persons  appear  in  the  streets,  and  there  is 
no  rumbling  of  carts  or  rattling  of  carriages,  the  silence  and 
inactivity  that  pervade  the  city,  surprise  a  stranger  from  the 
West.  This  is  the  external  aspect  of  the  city  in  the  parts  de- 
voted to  private  dwellings.  But  although  the  tenements  with- 
in these  mud-plastered  walls  are  often  wretched  enough,  yet 
there  are  many  houses,  and  even  palaces,  the  interior  comfort, 
elegance,  and  even  splendor  of  which,  offer  a  strong  contrast 
to  the  appearance  without.  The  entrance  to  some  of  even 
the  finest  houses  is  by  a  low,  mean-looking  door  in  a  great 
blank  wall.  But  this  unpromising  entrance  admits  one  to  a 
spacious  quadrangle  paved  with  marble,  in  the  midst  of  which 
a  fountain  throws  up  a  continual  shower,  cooling  the  atmos- 
phere, and  refreshing  the  evergreens  and  flowering  shrubs  that 
are  planted  around  it.  An  arcade  supported  by  slender  col- 
umns, runs  round  this  court,  to  which  there  is  an  ascent  by  a 
few  steps,  and  into  which  the  various  apartments  open.  These 
are  luxuriously  furnished  with  rich  carpets  and  cushions,  and 
the  walls  and  roof  elaborately  adorned  with  painting  and 
gilding,  and  the  cornices  enriched  with  Arabic  inscriptions. 
But  here  the  same  strange  silence  reigns,  and  the  only  sounds 
to  be  heard  are  the  splashing  of  the  fountain,  and  the  echoing 
of  one's  own  footsteps  over  the  marble  pavement. 

But  all  this  is  greatly  changed,  when  one  approaches  the 
part  of  the  city  in  which  its  business  is  concentrated.  Here 
passengers  become  more  frequent,  and  strings  of  mules  and 
laden  camels  begin  to  obstruct  the  way.  Soon  passing  from 
the  narrow  street,  the  covered  bazaars  are  entered,  and  here 
"  the  busy  hum  of  men  "  meets  the  ear,  and  the  eye  is  bewil- 
dered amid  the  gay  colors  of  the  various  articles  exposed  for 
sale,  and  of  the  groups  that  are  seen  passing  in  every  fantas- 
tic variety  of  Eastern  dress.  On  close  inspection,  however, 
some  disappointment  is  felt,  for  the  rich  manufactures  of  which 
old  travellers  speak — the  brocades  of  gold,  the  costly  silks, 
and  the  unrivalled  carpets  of  the  East,  we  meet  at  every  turn 
the  familiar  cottons  of  Manchester  and  Glasgow,  the  cloths  of 
Marseilles,  and  the  prints  of  Paris  ;  and  instead  of  the  Dam- 


DAMASCUS.  Id5 

ascus  blades,  barrelsv  and  jewelled  pistols,  we  find  here  the 
gay  swords  and  showy  pistols  of  Birmingham.  Oriental 
goods  and  arms  there  are  indeed,  but  the  European  predomi- 
nate ;  and  beyond  doubt  the  coin  of  Syria  is  flowing  fast  into 
Europe,  and  the  power-looms  of  the  Christians  are  rapidly  si- 
lencing the  hand-looms  of  the  Moslems.  This  is  one  change. 
There  has  been  a  still  greater  change  at  Damascus.  Being 
one  of  the  Moslem  holy  cities,  it  used  to  be  distinguished  for 
the  hatred  and  intolerance  of  its  inhabitants  towards  Christians. 
They  were  compelled  to  dismount  and  walk  on  foot  on  enter- 
ing the  gate ;  and  any  one  appearing  in  European  dress  was 
sure  to  expose  himself  to  gross  insult,  if  not  to  stoning  or  beat- 
ing even  to  death.  But  all  this  is  altered  now.  The  condi- 
tion— at  least  the  social  condition,  of  the  native  Christian  has 
been  greatly  ameliorated,  in  so  far  that  his  religion  no  longer 
subjects  him  to  insult  and  wrong.  Europeans  traverse  the  city 
with  complete  impunity ;  and  the  servants  and  subjects  of 
Christian  States  enjoy  privileges  unknown  to  even  the  native 
Moslems.  As  an  American  traveller  (Dr.  Durbin)  remarks, — 
"  The  head  of  a  principal  Turk  may  be  struck  off  at  any  mo- 
ment, without  cause,  at  the  command  of  a  Pasha,  while  that 
of  a  black  Indian  street  porter  is  safe,  because  he  is  a  subj  ect 
of  Queen  Victoria." 

Thus  at  Damascus,  as  elsewhere,  the  East  is  opening  fast  to 
the  enterprise,  the  principles,  and  the  religion  of  the  West; 
and,  although  not  by  might,  not  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  day  is  not 
far  off  when  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  there  made 
his  glory  known  to  Saul  of  Tarsus,  shall  be  honored  before 
all  other  names  in  this  earthly  paradise. 


136  FORTY-THIRD    WEEK SATURDAY. 

FORTY-THIRD  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

SAUL  IN  ARABIA. ACTS  IX.  19-22  ;    GAL.  I.   17. 

It  must  have  been  generally  known  in  Damascus  that  Saul 
had  been  blinded  by  an  extraordinary  brightness  on  his  ap- 
proach to  the  city,  and  had  thus  been  incapacitated,  for  the 
time  at  least,  for  the  work  of  persecution  for  which  he  had  been 
sent.  Further  than  this  nothing  could  be  known,  unless  Saul 
had  himself  disclosed  the  great  change  which  his  spirit  had 
undergone.  And  this  is  not  likely,  and  seems  to  be  disproved 
by  the  fact  that,  at  the  end  of  three  days,  Ananias  knew  no- 
thing of  it.  We  may,  however,  suppose  that  the  Christians, 
from  what  they  did  know,  would  be  likely  to  infer  that  their 
Lord  had  interposed  in  a  special  and  signal  manner  for  their 
protection,  by  the  sudden  prostration  of  the  intended  oppress- 
or. Great  must  have  been  their  surprise  and  adoring  thank- 
fulness when  the  result  appeared.  For  no  sooner  had  Saul  re- 
covered his  sight  and  been  baptized,  by  which  he  joined  their 
body  and  became  known  to  them  as  a  convert,  than  any  dis- 
trust which  may  have  lurked  in  their  minds  for  a  moment  was 
speedily  removed,  by  the  bold  and  decided  measure  he  took 
of  proceeding  at  once  to  the  Jewish  synagogues,  and  publicly 
declaring  in  them  the  conviction  he  had  so  marvellously  real- 
ized, that  "  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God."  He  doubtless  stated, 
as  he  was  apt  to  do,  what  had  brought  him  to  this  conviction, 
and  he  was  now  able  to  employ  his  rabbinical  and  pharisaical 
learning  in  upholding  the  cause  he  had  once  labored  to  de- 
stroy, and  in  confuting  the  arguments  which  had  once  satisfied 
his  own  mind.  Blank  amazement  at  the  first  intimation  of 
this  astounding  change  in  such  a  man,  whose  doings  at  Jeru- 
salem were  well  known,  as  well  as  the  object  of  his  presence 
in  Damascus,  seems  to  have  been  followed  by  some  curiosity 
to  hear  how  he  would  account  for  it.  This  gained  him  atten- 
tion ;  and  not  the  less  as  they  saw  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  put 
down  by  idle  clamor.     But  when  that  curiosity  was  satisfied, 


SAUL   IN    ARABIA.  137 

and  they  saw  him  prepared  to  gainsay  the  whole  course  of  his 
previous  life,  and  to  discard  with  abhorrence  and  grief  the  com- 
mission with  which  he  had  been  entrusted,  he  became  the  ob- 
ject of  intense  hatred,  rising  into  rage  with  the  increasing  ener- 
gy and  boldness  with  which  he  went  on  arguing  and  proving,  in 
the  synagogues,  with  irrisistible  force,  that  Jesus  was  indeed 
the  Messiah. 

This  could  not  last  long.  It  is  evident  that  the  excitement 
raised  among  the  Jews  of  Damascus,  who  must  have  regarded 
him  as  the  most  faithless  of  apostates,  would  place  his  life  in 
much  danger ;  and  nothing  could  be  more  likely  than  the 
speedy  arrival  of  a  new  delegate  from  Jerusalem,  empowered 
to  supersede  him,  and  to  bring  him  back  for  condign  punish- 
ment. We  know  from  his  own  account  in  Gal.i.  17,  that  he 
left  Damascus ;  and  these  considerations  render  it  probable 
that  his  first  stay  was  not  of  long  duration.  He  had  put  in 
his  testimony  for  Christ,  and  left  it  to  its  work. 

But  where  was  he  to  go  ?  • 

At  the  first  look  one  might  think  that  he  would  be  anxious 
to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  put  himself  into  communication  with 
the  apostles,  and  advise  with  them  as  to  his  future  course,  if 
not  to  receive  their  instructions.  But  we  seem  to  see  pruden- 
tial reasons  why  he  should  not  go  to  Jerusalem  just  at  that 
time,  when  the  exasperation  there  must  have  been  so  strong 
against  him ;  and  as  we  find  he  did  not  proceed  thither,  we 
might  suppose  that  he  was  prevented  by  this  consideration. 
But  again,  we  may  hesitate  to  think  that  one  who  had  con- 
fronted the  Jews  so  boldly  in  the  synagogues  of  Damascus, 
would  be  prevented  by  his  apprehensions  from  going  to  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  it  may  be  urged  that  if  he  left  Damascus  to  pre- 
vent the  needless  surrender  of  his  life,  the  same  consideration 
should  prevent  his  going  to  Jerusalem,  where  the  danger  was 
at  least  equal,  and  probably  greater. 

If  any  duty  had  called  Saul  to  Jerusalem,  if  his  Lord  had 
commanded  him  to  go  there,  we  may  be  sure  that  no  prospect 
of  danger  to  himself  would  have  deterred  him.  But  he  had 
really  no  need  to  go  thither ;  and  his  going  at  that  time  might 


138  FORTY-THIRL>    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

have  been  injurious  to  his  future  usefulness  and  influence,  by 
bringing  the  original  and  underived  authority  of  his  apostle- 
ship  into  question.  From  what  afterwards  happened  at  Cor- 
inth, we  can  see  that  advantage  would  have  been  taken  of 
this  circumstance  to  insinuate  that  he  had  sought,  at  Jerusa- 
lem, from  the  apostles  instruction  in  doctrine,  and  the  confirm- 
ation of  his  mission.  But  the  Lord,  by  the  whole  course  of 
his  action  towards  him,  and  probably  indeed  by  direct  in- 
struction, had  made  him  to  understand  that  it  was  of  most 
essential  importance  that  it  should  be  manifest  that  he  deriv- 
ed his  gospel  directly  from  Jesus  Christ — -that  He  had  made 
him  a  minister — that  He  had  directly  and  immediately  invest- 
ed him  with  plenary  apostolic  authority,  so  that  he  was  no 
whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles.*  The  more 
strongly  we  are  enabled,  from  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
and  Galatians,  to  realize  the  importance  of  these  considerations, 
the  more  clearly  Saul's  reasons  for  not  going  to  Jerusalem  may 
appear ;  and  as  the  Lord  knew  future  results  which  might  not 
then  be  apparent  to  Saul's  understanding,  it  may  reasonably 
be  presumed  that  He  directed  his  movements  on  this  as  on 
other  occasions,  and  forbade  his  proceeding  to  Jerusalem. 

It  is  even  possible  that  our  knowledge  of  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  his  quitting  the  same  city  on  a  later  occasion, 
may  have  too  readily  induced  us  to  assign  the  same  cause  to 
his  previous  departure.  We  certainly  do  not  read  that  the 
violence  of  the  Jews  compelled  him  to  go  away.  There  may 
have  been  other  reasons.  Some  have  suggested  a  possible  re- 
gard for  his  health — which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ever 
very  strong,  and  may  have  been  much  shaken  by  all  he  had 
lately  gone  through.  This  may  at  least  have  been  added  to 
other  reasons;  for  a  man  is  as  much  bound  to  consider  his 
health  as  his  life,  so  that  his  care  for  neither  takes  him  away 

*  This  matter  may  be  seen  fully  developed  iu  Dr.  John  Brown's 
Exposition  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle  to  the  Galatians — a 
most  valuable  recent  addition  to  the  series  of  exegetical  works  with 
which,  within  these  few  years,  the  author  has,  far  beyond  any  writer 
of  this  age,  enriched  the  theological  literature  of  this  country. 


SAUL    IN    ARABIA.  139 

from  the  path  :>f  duty.  Although  we  should  not  like  to  rest 
much  upon  this,  we  can  produce  facts  which  would  make  it 
appear  still  more  probable  to  those  by  whom  it  has  been  ad- 
vanced. 

The  great  bane  of  the  delicious  environs  of  Damascus  is  the 
insalubrity  of  the  climate.  In  the  summer  and  autumn,  at- 
tacks of  ophthalmia  are  frequent ;  and  the  intermittent  Damas- 
cus fever  is  a  terrible  disease ;  and  when  it  has  once  made  its 
attack  it  pays  annual  visits,  reducing  the  patient  to  a  skeleton. 
This  fever  and  ophthalmia  are  entirely  owing  to  the  extensive 
irrigation,  and  consequent  exhalation,  from  the  ground.  Wher- 
ever there  is  water,  there  are  generally  no  inhabitants.  Hence, 
such  of  the  inhabitants  as  can  possibly  manage  to  do  so,  leave 
the  city  for  a  time,  and  retire  into  the  neighboring  dry  and 
healthy  districts.  Saul  did  this — that  is,  he  went  into  "  Ara- 
bia ;"  but  whether  from  the  same,  or  partly  from  the  same 
reason,  is  open  to  conjecture.  It  has  been  thought  that  cer- 
tain intimations  in  the  Epistles  are  best  explained  by  suppos- 
ing that  it  was  the  Lord's  pleasure  that,  although  he  recover- 
ed his  sight,  his  eyes  should  remain  weak  and  tender,  as  a 
standing  memorial  of  the  circumstances  under  which  he  had 
been  made  blind.  If  this  were  the  case,  it  may  be  conjec- 
tured that  some  indication  of  an  attack  of  ophthalmia,  on  the 
arrival  of  the  unwholesome  season  at  Damascus,  may  have 
contributed  to  the  reasons  he  had  for  retiring  from  the  city 
at  that  time.  It  may  also  be  conceived,  that  at  this  early  pe- 
riod of  his  new  career,  he  desired  to  withdraw  for  a  season 
into  comparative  retirement  for  the  purpose  of  giving  himself 
up  to  solemn  meditation  and  communion  with  his  Divine  Mas- 
ter. Such  retirement  he  could  realize  in  Arabia,  but  not  in 
Damascus,  nor  in  Jerusalem,  nor  in  Tarsus.  It  is  commonly 
stated,  that  he  preached  the  Gospel  in  Arabia,  and  some  inge- 
nious comment  has  been  founded  upon  that  conclusion.  It 
may  have  been  so  to  the  extent  that  a  man  like  Saul  would 
not  be  likely  to  neglect  any  opportunity  of  usefulness  which 
circumstances  might  present ;  but  there  is  no  proof  of  the  fact 


140  FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK — SUNDAY. 

in  the  passage  in  Galatians,  where  this  visit  is  mentioned,  nor 
any  trace  of  it  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

And  here  it  may  be  desirable  to  remind  the  reader  that  the 
name  Arabia  is  doubtless  here  employed  in  a  sense  different 
to  that  which  it  has  borne  since  the  second  century,  when  the 
geographer  Ptolemy  gave  that  definition  of  the  limits  of  Ara- 
bia in  its  three  divisions  which  has  been  generally  adopted. 
Before  that  the  name  was  very  vaguely  applied,  and  in  the 
times  of  Saul  was  extended  far  northward,  encroaching  largely 
upon  the  borders  of  Syria  and  Palestine.  Towns  lying  in  the 
region  immediately  south  of  Damascus,  that  is,  in  the  Hauran 
(Auranitis)  are  reckoned  by  the  Roman  writers  as  belonging 
to  Arabia.  Early  Christian  writers,  such  as  Justin  Martyr 
and  Tertullian,  assign  even  Damascus  itself  to  Arabia ;  and 
Pliny  the  elder  extends  Arabia  in  this  direction  over  the 
mountains  of  Lebanon  to  the  borders  of  Cilicia.  It  is  not 
therefore  needful  to  suppose  that  Saul  buried  himself  in  the 
deserts  of  Arabia,  or  sought  the  dread  solitudes  of  Sinai.  It 
is  sufficient  to  assume  that  he  withdrew  to  the  same  quarters 
to  which  the  Damascenes  themselves  retreat  from  the  fever  and 
the  ophthalmia  which  in  summer  afflict  their  city. 


GRACE. 1  COR.  XV.  8-10. 

In  the  frequent  references  which  occur  in  Paul's  Epistles  to 
the  great  event  of  his  life,  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the 
strongest  and  most  prevaling  impression  it  left  upon  his  own 
mind.  It  was  that  of  admiring  wonder  at  that  high  Grace 
of  God,  which  had  singled  him  out — even  him — to  be  brought 
near  to  that  Jesus,  whose  name  he  had  once  abhorred,  and  to 
spend  and  be  spent  in  that  cause  he  had  labored  to  destroy. 

Observe  how  remarkably,  even  to  iteration,  he,  in  his  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  makes  this  grace  the  leading  theme 
of  his  allusion  to  that  event : — 


GRACE.  141 

"Last  of  all  He  [Jesus]  was  seen  of  me  also,  as  of  one  born 
out  of  due  time.  For  I  am  the  least  of  the  Apostles,  and  not 
meet  to  be  called  an  Apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  Church 
of  God.  But  by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am  ;  and  His 
grace,  which  was  bestowed  upon  me,  was  not  in  vain ;  but  I 
labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all :  yet  not  I,  but  the 
grace  of  God  which  was  with  me."  It  is  all  "  grace."  And 
this  perception  of  the  fulness  of  that  grace  could  not  be  real- 
ized without  that  correspondingly  deep  sense  of  his  own  un- 
deservings,  which  he  constantly  declares.  These  two  things 
are  inseparable ;  for  no  one  can  adequately  value  or  under- 
stand God's  grace  in  saving,  who  does  not  know — who  does 
not  feel,  "  in  his  heart  of  hearts,"  that  without  it  he  were  ut- 
terly lost — "  utterly ;"  for  as  there  is  no  middle  condition  be- 
tween living  and  dying,  so  is  there  none  between  salvation 
and  perdition. 

What  wonder,  then,  that  with  this  keen  perception  of  the 
grace  that  had  been  so  signally  manifested  towards  himself — 
grace  became  the  darling  theme  of  his  writings  and  discourses ; 
and  that  he  is  never  weary  in  enforcing,  by  every  kind  of  argu- 
ment and  illustration,  the  sovereign  freedom  and  exceeding 
riches  of  the  Divine  grace  abounding  to  sinners  in  the  Great 
Redeemer.  In  this  only  he  exulted,  in  this  only  he  rejoiced. 
Yet  did  he  not  consider  his  most  humble  and  entire  confidence 
in  that  grace  as  superseding  the  necessity  of  the  most  constant 
watchfulness  and  self-denial.  "  I  keep  under  my  body,"  he 
says,  "  and  bring  it  into  subjection,  lest  that  by  any  means, 
when  I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be  a  cast- 
away."— 1  Cor.  ix.  27. 

The  force  of  the  language  in  which  the  apostle  expresses 
his  meaning  may  not  be  readily  seen,  unless  we  recollect  that 
throughout  the  passage,  of  which  this  text  is  part,  the  images 
are  derived  from  the  contests,  the  races,  the  boxing,  the  wrest- 
ling, of  the  Olympic  and  Isthmian  games.  He  had  before  said, 
M  Every  man  that  striveth  for  the  mastery  is  temperate  in  all 
things."  In  which  he  alludes  to  the  severe  preparatory  train- 
ing of  those  who  intended  to  offer  themselves  as  competitors 


142  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK SUNDAY, 

in  these  games — something  like  which  still  exists  with  us 
among  those  preparing  for  pugilistic  and  pedestrian  contests. 
But  among  these  ancient  competitors  training  lasted  twelve 
months,  during  which  all  the  wants  of  nature,  and  all  sensual 
indulgences,  were  strictly  regulated  under  an  experienced  mas- 
ter of  the  gymnastic  arts.  Their  eating,  drinking,  sleeping, 
walking,  were  determined  as  to  time  and  quantity  by  rule ; 
and  they  were  continually  exercised  in  those  arts,  at  the  prize 
for  which  they  intended  to  aim.  "  But  they  do  it,"  says  the 
apostle,  "  to  obtain  a  corruptible  crown ;  but  we  an  incorrupt- 
ible." The  crowns  of  the  victors  in  these  games  were  indeed 
very  corruptible,  being  simply  garlands  of  laurel,  pine  leaves, 
wild  olive,  or  even  parsley.  The  other,  "  a  crown  of  glory, 
that  fadeth  not  away." 

In  the  passage  before  us,  however,  his  allusions  are  to  the 
pugilistic  contests.  The  apostle  intimates  the  stern  reality  of 
the  conflict  in  which  he  is  engaged,  by  treating  the  body  as 
the  opponent  in  such  an  encounter.  When  he  says  that  he 
keeps  it  under,  he  uses  a  phrase,  which,  in  the  original,  signi- 
fies to  strike  one's  opponent,  in  such  a  conflict,  in  the  face,  or, 
more  exactly,  under  the  eyes,  that  being  the  part  particularly 
aimed  at  in  such  conflicts,  for  the  purpose  of  both  blinding 
and  disfiguring  the  antagonist ;  and  here  the  blow  was  con- 
sidered most  effective.  So,  when  he  says  that  he  strives  to 
"  bring  it  [the  body]  into  subjection,"  he  seems  to  pass  to  an 
image  derived  from  the  practice  of  wrestlers,  who  strive  to 
secure  the  victory  by  giving  a  fall  to  their  opponents. 

Language  like  this — so  explained  and  illustrated — is  strong- 
ly expressive  of  a  mind  at  once  divested  of  self-confidence, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  well  guarded  against  every  tendency  to 
pervert  the  doctrines  of  grace  to  a  plea  for  indulgence  to  the 
flesh.  Saul  was  far  otherwise  minded.  He  considered  the 
discoveries  of  the  Gospel,  as  furnishing  the  most  powerful 
and  vigorous  motives  to  constant  and  vigorous  exertion  in  all 
the  duties  of  practical  religion,  and  as  affording  the  best  as- 
sistance in  them.  Thus,  again,  after  having  introduced  the 
beautiful  allusion  to  the  Olympic  games,  to  which  we  have 


GRACE.  143 

just  referred,  by  mention  of  the  fadeless  prize-crown  which 
is  set  before  the  Christian  combatant,  he  proposes  himself  as 
an  example  in  that  glorious  contest — striving  to  win  this  high 
honor  for  himself.  "  I  so  run,  not  as  uncertainly ;  so  fight  I, 
not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air."  Thus  he  expresses,  by  fig- 
ures derived  from  the  same  source  as  the  others,  that  he  ran 
the  race  set  before  him,  not  by  a  rambling  and  devious  course, 
but  along  a  determined  line  to  a  definite  bourne.  Just  as  in 
the  games,  the  path  the  racers  were  to  keep  was  denoted  by 
ivhite  lines,  or  by  posts ;  and  he  who  trespassed  beyond  these 
lines,  by  diverging  from  the  path  which  they  marked  out, 
lost  the  race,  even  though  he  were  the  first  to  reach  the  goal. 
So  also  he  fought  not  in  his  contest  with  flesh  and  blood,  with 
futile  and  abortive  strokes,  as  one  beating  the  air,  but  with  firm 
stroke  and  steady  aim,  as  one  resolute  in  his  purposes.  In 
order  to  acquire  the  proper  dexterity  and  firmness  of  muscle, 
it  was  usual  for  the  pugilists  to  exercise  themselves  with  the 
gauntlets,  and  to  fling  their  arms  about  as  if  engaged  with  an 
actual  adversary.  This  was  called  "beating  the  air,"  and 
came  to  be  a  proverbial  expression,  applied  to  those  who  miss- 
ed their  aim  in  the  actual  conflict.  This  seems  to  be  the  al- 
lusion intended  by  the  apostle. 

In  the  same  spirit  he  writes  to  the  church  at  Philippi : — 
"  Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  to  have  apprehended ;  but  this 
one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  those  things  that  are  behind,  and 
reaching  forth  to  those  things  that  are  before,  I  press  toward 
the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus." — Phil.  iii.  13,  14.  Here  also  the  allusions  are  to  the 
race, — allusions  so  frequent  with  him,  because  they  were  not 
only  highly  illustrative,  but  so  familiar  and  intelligible  to 
those  whom  he  addressed.  In  the  entire  passage,  which  in- 
cludes these  two  verses,  his  first  and  literal  meaning  is  this, — 
He  could  not  yet  exult  as  one  who  had  attained  the  goal,  and 
won  (though  not  yet  received)  the  prize ;  much  less  as  one 
already  "  perfect,"  or  crowned  with  all  the  honors  of  victory. 
No :  not  yet  (and  he  wrote  this  towards  the  close  of  his  career) 
had  he  apjwehended,  or  taken  hold  of,  the  post  which  marked 


144  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

the  goal,  and  thereby  gained  the  victory.  He  was  yet  upon 
the  course,  still  striving  in  the  race.  He  lost  no  time  in  look- 
ing back  upon  the  distance  he  had  passed,  or  to  see  how 
far  the  other  racers  were  behind  ;  but  with  his  attention  wholly 
fixed  upon  the  space  that  lay  before  him — between  him  and 
the  mark  or  garlanded  post  that  showed  the  goal,  he  pressed 
with  eagerness  towards  it  for  the  prize, — "the  prize  of  the 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

He  means  not  that  any  duty  or  service  was  undertaken  by 
him  in  his  own  strength.  He  had  once,  in  his  Pharisaic  self- 
esteem,  regarded  his  virtue  alone  as  equal  to  any  labor  or  suf- 
fering ;  but  his  more  enlightened  experience,  or  rather  his  Di- 
vine Master,  had  shown  him  his  mistake,  and  taught  him  to 
rely  humbly  and  actively  upon  Him  for  assistance  and  success 
in  every  undertaking.  Under  this  conviction  he  continually 
sought  His  aid,  and  entreated  his  brethren  to  strengthen  his 
supplications  by  their  prayers  for  him : — "  I  beseech  you, 
brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  love  of 
the  Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together  with  me  in  your  prayers  to 
God  for  me." — Rom.  xv.  30. 

Indeed  to  a  Divine  influence  showered  upon  him,  and  work- 
ing in  him,  he  ascribed  the  honor  of  every  great  and  good 
design,  every  becoming  disposition,  every  honorable  and  use- 
ful action  of  his  life.  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I 
am."  And  it  ought  to  be  remarked  here,  that  amidst  a  series 
of  the  most  extensive  and  important  services  to  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  he  speaks  of  him- 
self in  terms  of  deep  and  earnest  self-abasement,  inventing  a 
superlatively  comparative  diminutive  (ilccx^ioieQog),  by  which 
to  express  that  sense,  for  which  no  existing  word  sufficed — the 
most  humbling  sense  he  entertained  of  his  own  insufficiency 
and  nothingness, — "  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints."  Nor 
was  this  an  unmeaning  form  of  words ;  he  lived  the  language 
he  spoke,  and  exemplified,  in  all  circumstances,  the  lowly  spirit 
he  recommended  and  expressed. 


saul's  escape  from  Damascus.  145 

FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

saul's  ESCAPE  FROM  DAMASCUS. ACTS  IX.  23-25. 

The  duration  of  Saul's  stay  in  Arabia  is  uncertain.  It  is 
stated  by  himself,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  that  his  re- 
turn to  Jerusalem,  to  which  he  repaired  after  his  final  depart- 
ure from  Damascus,  was  "  three  years"  subsequent  to  his  con- 
version. This  does  not  necessarily  express  three  complete 
years ;  but  may,  according  to  Hebrew  usage,  denote  one  en- 
tire year,  and  parts  of  two  other  years ;  just  as  our  Lord  is 
said  to  have  lain  "  three  days  "  in  the  tomb,  though  it  was  in 
reality  but  one  whole  day  and  parts  of  two  other  days.  In 
the  direct  narrative  in  the  Acts,  which  overlooks  the  interme- 
diate journey  into  Arabia,  the  interval  is  covered  by  the  gen- 
eral phrase  of  "  many  days ;"  and  it  is  a  curious  coincidence, 
that  in  the  Old  Testament  the  same  phrase  of  "  many  days  " 
is  used  to  denote  a  space  of  "  three  years."*  Whether  the  in- 
terval was  three  entire  years,  or  three  incomplete  years,  which 
may  have  been  as  little  as  a  year  and  a  half,  there  are  no  data 
for  the  distribution  of  the  period  between  the  two  visits  to 
Damascus  and  the  intermediate  sojourn  in  Arabia.  The  gen- 
eral impression,  which  results  from  the  comparison  of  the  dif- 
ferent narratives  and  intimations,  seems,  however,  in  our  judg- 
ment, to  be  that  the  first  visit  to  Damascus  was  of  short  dura- 
tion, the  sojourn  in  Arabia  of  comparatively  considerable 
length,  and  the  final  visit  to  Damascus  much  longer  than  the 
first,  if  not  so  long  as  that  of  the  retirement  into  Arabia. 

But  we  cannot  proceed  without  pointing  out  the  very  satis- 
factory manner  in  which  the  long  interval  of  "  many  days," 
explained  as  three  years,  is  thus  accounted  for.  From  the 
direct  narrative  in  the  Acts  it  might  appear  difficult  to  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  Saul   should,  under   the  circumstances, 

*  1  Kings  ii.  38,  39,  "And  Shimei  dwelt  at  Jerusalem  many  days; 
and  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  three  years,  that  two  of  the  servants 
of  Shimei  ran  away." 

VOL.  IV.  7 


146  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

have  remained  so  long  at  Damascus  unmolested  by  the 
Jews ;  but  all  this  is  obviated  when  we  find,  from  the  other 
account,  that  although  the  period  commenced  and  ended  at 
Damascus,  there  was  an  intermediate  residence  in  Arabia,  so 
that  the  period  of  "  many  days "  covers  three  visits,  two  to 
Damascus,  and  one  into  Arabia.  It  is  only,  therefore,  by  com- 
paring the  narratives  that  we  get  at  the  full  account,  by  which 
all  difficulties  are  obviated,  and  all  the  discrepancies  are  re- 
moved. And  in  this  we  find  very  noticeable  evidence  of  the 
simple  truthfulness  and  integrity  of  the  sacred  writers.  Here 
we  have  two  accounts,  neither  of  which  is  complete  without 
the  other.  In  the  leading  narrative  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
Luke  has  left  a  chasm  which  he  has  nowhere  else  supplied. 
But  that  chasm  we  are  enabled  to  fill  up  by  the  apostle  him- 
self, in  letters  written  long  after,  and  without  any  design  to 
complete  the  history  of  Luke ;  for  the  introduction  of  this  ac- 
count of  the  transaction  into  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  was 
for  a  very  different  purpose — that  is,  as  was  two  evenings  ago 
explained,  to  show  that  he  received  his  commission  directly 
from  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  in  a  manner  independent  of  the 
other  apostles.  The  two  accounts  are  therefore  like  the  two 
parts  of  a  tally ;  neither  is  complete  without  the  other,  and 
yet,  being  put  together,  they  so  exactly  fit  into  each  other,  as 
to  show  that  the  one  is  precisely  adjusted  to,  and  is  the  coun- 
terpart of,  the  other.  And  as  these  two  parts  are  supplied  by 
different  persons  without  the  least  design  of  adapting  them  to 
each  other,  they  show  that  the  writers  had  formed  no  collusion 
or  agreement  to  impose  upon  the  world  ;  that  they  are  sepa- 
rate and  independent  witnesses  ;  that  they  were  honest  men ; 
that  their  narratives  are  true  records  of  what  actually  occurred ; 
and  that  the  two  narratives,  therefore,  constitute  a  strong  and 
very  valuable  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  sacred  narrative. 
Dr.  Paley,  who  has  very  ably  wrought  out  this  species  of 
argument  through  a  variety  of  illustrations  drawn  from  the 
comparison  of  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles,  observes  of  the  pres- 
ent case :  "  Beside  the  difference  observable  in  the  terms  and 
general  complexion  of  these  two  accounts,  the  journey  into 


saul's  escape  from  Damascus.  147 

Arabia,  mentioned  in  the  Epistle,  and  omitted  in  the  history, 
affords  full  proof  that  there  existed  no  correspondence  between 
these  writers.  If  the  narrative  in  the  Acts  had  been  made 
up  from  the  Epistle,  it  is  impossible  that  this  journey  should 
be  passed  over  in  silence.  If  the  Epistle  had  been  compiled 
out  of  what  the  writer  had  read  of  Paul's  history  in  the  Acts, 
it  is  unaccountable  that  it  should  have  been  inserted."* 

If  we  are  led  further  to  ask  why  Luke  should  omit  this  im- 
portant particular  in  the  Acts,  it  may  be  answered  that  there 
are  many  facts  and  circumstances  omitted  in  all  histories  from 
the  necessity  of  the  case.  This  is  very  broadly  stated  by  one 
of  the  sacred  historians,  with  reference  to  the  history  of  our 
Lord. — John  xxi.  25. 

After  his  return  to  Damascus,  Saul  seems  to  have  resumed 
his  former  course,  "  preaching  boldly  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  Being  unable  to  meet  him  in  controversy,  the  Jews 
conspired  to  take  his  life — not  seemingly  by  any  judicial  pro- 
cess, but  by  assassination — a  resort  for  the  removal  of  adver- 
saries which  had  already  become  common  in  that  age,  and 
for  which  hired  agents  were  never  wanting.  The  plot,  how- 
ever, transpired,  though  we  know  not  in  what  way.  Saul 
became  acquainted  with  it.  It  would  seem  that  he  then  no 
longer  appeared  in  public,  but  kept  himself  in  retirement. 
His  enemies,  however,  felt  assured  that  he  had  not  left  the 
city ;  and  their  influence  with  the  governor  of  Damascus  was 
sufficient  to  enable  them  to  obtain  an  order  that  the  gates 
should  be  watched  for  his  apprehension,  should  he  attempt  to 
escape.  The  walls  were  lofty,  and  there  seemed  no  other 
mode  of  egress  than  by  the  gates.  But  the  anxiety  of  the 
disciples  for  the  preservation  of  a  life  so  precious,  found  a 
means  of  deliverance,  which  the  zealous  watchfulness  of  the 
"  liers  in  wait "  had  overlooked.  It  is  usual  in  the  East  for 
houses  to  be  built  against  the  inside  of  the  town  wall,  so  that 
many  of  the  house  tops  are  nearly,  if  not  quite,  on  a  level 
with  its  summit.     Sometimes,  indeed,  the  upper  part  of  the 

*  Hora  Paulina,  Chap,  v.,  No.  1.    Edited  by  Rev.  T.   R.  Birks. 
1850 


148 


FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — MONDAY. 


houses  rises  considerably  above  the  level  of  the  wall,  and  then 
sometimes  an  upper  apartment  even  overhangs  the  wall,  form- 
ing a  kiosk,  where  the  master  of  the  house  can,  in  his  recrea- 
tive moments,  sit  alone  or  with  his  friends,  enjoying  the  view 
of  the  open  country.  Wo  might  therefore  infer,  from  the 
leading  narrative  alone,  that  it  was  from  some  such  house  that 
the  apostle  was  let  down  in  a  basket ;  but  his  own  information, 
given  in  2  Cor.  xi.  33,  that  the  basket  was  let  down  "  through 
a  window,"  places  this  beyond  question. 

Houses  built  against,  upon,  or  overhanging  the  wall  of  the 
city,  are  still  to  be  seen  at  Damascus ;  some  of  them  near 
the  spot,  hard  by  the  Jerusalem  Gate,  where  tradition,  with 
its  usual  determinateness,  places  the  precise  spot  of  Saul's  es- 


cape. "Passing  through  the  gate  of  Jerusalem,"  says  Dr. 
Durbin,  "  I  cast  my  eyes  up  to  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  ob- 
served that  houses  were  built  upon  it ;  and  near  one  of  them 


ARETAS    THE    KING.  149 

was  a  -walled  up  portal  and  window,  through  the  latter  of 
which,  Christian  tradition  says  the  apostle  was  let  down  in  a 
basket  when  he  escaped  for  his  life  ;  and,  according  to  Moslem 
tradition,  the  reign  of  Mohammedanism  shall  cease  whenever 
a  Christian  shall  enter  the  gate  through  the  former.  Hence 
it  is  strongly  built  up." 


FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

ARETAS  THE  KING. 2  COR.  XI.  32. 

We  may  this  evening  give  our  attention  to  a  curious  point 
in  the  history  of  Saul's  escape  from  Damascus,  which  does  not 
appear  in  the  regular  narrative,  nor  in  the  apostle's  own  ref- 
erence to  it. 

We  find  it  in  the  second  of  his  epistles  to  the  Corinthians. 
It  is  here  stated  that  at  the  time  "  In  Damascus,  the  governor 
under  Aretas  the  king  kept  the  city  of  the  Damascenes  with 
a  garrison,  desirous  to  apprehend  me."  Here  the  fact  that 
startles  us  is,  that  Aretas,  a  petty  king  of  Arabia  Petraea, 
should  be  in  the  exercise  of  authority,  by  his  officer  or  eth- 
narch,  in  a  city  not  belonging  to  his  proper  territory,  but  un- 
der the  Roman  jurisdiction.  Neither  Josephus,  nor  any  other 
writer,  speaks  of  Damascus  as  ever  having  been  subject  to 
Aretas,  and  the  circumstance  seems  at  the  first  view  unaccount- 
able and  even  improbable.  That  the  fact  is  not  mentioned 
by  the  only  one  or  two  writers  likely  to  have  noticed  it,  is  not 
in  itself  strange,  on  the  principles  of  historical  evidence ;  and 
we  cannot  pretend  to  produce  any  testimony  on  this  point. 
But,  in  the  absence  of  this,  it  is  something  to  be  able  to  show 
from  the  information  we  do  possess,  that  it  is  by  no  means 
improbable  that  Aretas  should  at  this  timelvre  had  possession 
of  Damascus. 

This  Aretas  is  the  same  king  of  Arabia  whom  Herod  An- 
tipas,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  had  so  deeply  displeased  by  di- 


150  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

vorcing  his  daughter,  in  order  that  he  might  marry  Herodias. 
The  injured  princess  returned  to  her  father;  and  he,  incensed 
at  the  treatment  she  had  received,  soon  commenced  hostilities 
against  Herod,  and  in  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of  the  Em- 
peror Tiberius  (a.  d.  37),  had  completely  defeated  his  army. 
Aretas  was,  like  Herod,  tributary  to  the  Romans,  though  in 
some  degree  less  dependent,  and  Herod  took  care  to  send  such 
a  report  of  the  matter  to  Rome,  that  the  imperial  wrath  was 
roused  at  the  audacity  of  Aretas  in  waging  war  with  another 
"  protected  "  sovereign,  without  the  permission  or  concurrence 
of  the  emperor.  Tiberius  therefore  sent  orders  to  Vitellius, 
the  Roman  prefect  in  Syria,  to  declare  war  against  Aretas,  and 
either  take  him  alive,  or  send  his  head  to  Rome. 

But  Vitellius  cherished  a  dislike  to  Herod,  and  seems  to 
have  moved  with  little  alacrity  in  what  was  essentially  his 
cause.  Indeed,  the  knowledge  that  this  order  had  been  pro- 
cured by  his  representations  to  the  emperor,  was  alone  suffi- 
cient to  render  it  distasteful  to  him. 

The  reason  of  his  umbrage  was  this  : — 

There  had  been  a  rebellion  against  the  Romans,  and  great 
commotions  in  Parthia.  After  various  attempts  to  settle  these 
disorders,  Tiberius  ordered  Vitellius  to  go  and  contract  a  league 
with  Artabanus,  the  king  of  the  Parthians.  They  met  accord- 
ingly, each  with  a  guard  of  honor,  upon  a  bridge  thrown  for 
that  purpose  over  the  Euphrates,  where  they  concluded  the 
articles  of  agreement.  After  this  they  were  splendidly  enter- 
tained by  Herod,  who  was  present,  in  a  rich  pavilion  curiously 
Bet  in  the  middle  of  the  stream — but  whether  upon  the  bridge 
itself,  or  upon  a  raft  secured  in  the  mid-stream,  does  not  ex- 
actly appear.  Herod  then  hastened  to  send  to  the  emperor  at 
Rome  intelligence  of  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  about  which 
he  knew  that  Tiberius  felt  much  interest,  with  a  full  account 
of  all  the  particulars.  His  messenger  arrived  considerably 
earlier  than  the  one  sent  by  Vitellius  with  his  official  account. 
The  emperor  therefore  replied  coldly  that  his  intelligence  was 
stale,  for  that  he  had  already  received  all  needful  information 
from  Herod.     Vitellius  was  much  hurt  at  this :  and  conceiv- 


ARETAS    THE    KING.  151 

ing  that  he  had  been  greatly  injured  in  the  emperor's  favor 
by  the  officiousness  of  the  tetrarch,  he  cherished  a  secret  resent- 
ment against  that  personage, — not  the  less  bitter  that  he  was 
for  the  present  obliged  to  keep  it  in  his  own  bosom.  For 
although  Herod  had  lost  the  favor  of  the  prefect,  he  had  won 
that  of  the  emperor,  which  he  valued  much  more,  so  that  it 
was  not  long  after  this  that  Vitellius  received  from  Tiberius  the 
order  we  have  mentioned, — to  employ  the  Roman  forces 
against  Aretas,  ostensibly  to  punish  a  refractory  vassal,  but 
really  to  avenge  the  quarrel  of  Herod  Antipas. 

However  slowly  and  reluctantly,  Vitellius  was  obliged  to 
move  in  obedience  to  this  order.  At  first,  it  was  his  intention 
to  march  his  troops  through  Judea,  as  the  nearest  way  to  the 
territory  of  Aretas ;  but  he  was  met  at  Ptolemais  by  an  em- 
bassy from  the  Jews,  who  implored  him  to  change  his  plan,  as 
they  could  not  suffer  the  Roman  standards,  with  their  idola- 
trous images,  to  be  carried  through  their  country.  Upon  this 
the  prefect,  who  was  a  man  noted  for  his  courtesy,  unwilling 
to  give  needless  offence,  sent  the  troops  across  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  and  went  himself,  with  Herod  and  some  others,  to 
Jerusalem,  to  offer  sacrifices  in  the  temple,  at  the  feast  of  the 
Passover,  then  nigh  at  hand.  Gratified  by  his  ready  conces- 
sion to  their  religious  scruples,  Vitellius  was  received  with  every 
possible  mark  of  respect.  On  the  fourth  day  after  his  arrival, 
news  arrived  of  the  death  of  Tiberius,  and  the  accession  of 
Caius  Caligula.  Upon  this  he  required  the  Jews  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  emperor ;  and  he  eagerly  seized 
the  excuse  of  abandoning  or  postponing  the  enterprise  against 
Aretas,  alleging  the  necessity  of  first  obtaining  the  sanction  of 
the  new  emperor  to  the  orders  received  from  his  predecessor. 
He  therefore  returned  himself  to  Antioch,  and  dismissed  his 
troops  into  winter  quarters.  Now,  seeing  how  nearly  this 
event  appears,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  to  coincide  with, 
or  slightly  to  precede,  the  mention  of  Aretas  in  the  sacred 
volume,  as  master  of  Damascus,  what  forbids  us  to  conclude, 
that  in  the  course  of  the  hostilities  between  him  and  Herod, 
upon  the  Syrian  frontier ;  or  on  the  withdrawal  of  Vitellius ; 


152  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

or,  which  is  still  more  likely,  as  soon  as  he  knew  what  he  had 
to  expect,  under  the  orders  that  general  had  received,  to  send 
him  dead  or  alive  to  Rome,  he  gained  possession  of  Damascus, 
which  had  belonged  to  his  ancestors,  and  retained  it  in  his 
possession  during  all  the  reign  of  Caligula.  It  had  become  a 
matter  of  life  or  death  to  him ;  and  when  he  saw  two  legions 
of  Roman  soldiers,  with  numerous  auxiliaries,  marching  against 
him,  he  had  no  alternative  but  to  submit,  or  to  do  all  that  he 
could  to  strengthen  his  position.  To  submit  were  death  with 
ignominy ;  to  resist  were,  at  the  worst,  death  with  honor  ;  and 
when  the  Romans  had  declared  war  against  him,  and  were  pre- 
pared to  hunt  him  to  the  death,  it  was  not  a  time  for  him  to  hesi- 
tate about  making  himself  master  of  any  city  he  was  able  to  win, 
and  the  possession  of  which  was  desirable  to  him,  merely  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  immediately  under  Roman  jurisdiction. 
The  new  emperor  had  little  regard  for  Herod,  and  seems  to 
have  justified  the  precaution  of  Vitellius,  by  not  ordering  the 
resumption  of  the  expedition  against  Aretas.  How  long  this 
prince  held  Damascus  we  know  not.  It  is  likely  that  the 
Romans  came  to  terms  with  him,  rather  than  incur  the  expense 
and  trouble  of  a  profitless  little  war ;  and  that  then  he  either 
relinquished  his  occupation  of  Damascus,  or  was  confirmed  in 
the  possession  of  it  by  the  Romans. 

It  seems  therefore  to  us,  that  the  Scriptural  intimation, 
strange  as  it  appears  at  the  first  view,  fits  very  well  into  the 
common  history  of  these  transactions,  and  indeed  furnishes  a 
hint  for  the  completion  of  an  account  of  matters,  which  is  left 
unsettled  and  imperfect. 

The  term  (ethnarch),  applied  to  the  "  governor"  of  Damascus, 
under  King  Aretas,  may  denote  either  a  civil  governor  or 
military  commandant — probably  he  wras  the'latter,  or  perhaps 
both,  the  offices  being  often  united,  especially  in  a  recently- 
acquired  town. 

The  influence  which  the  Jews  had  with  him  may  be  ex- 
plained by  considering  how  much  it  was  his  interest  to  con- 
ciliate  so  important  a  portion  of  the  Damascene  population. 
Besides,  the  government  of  Aretas  could  hardly  fail  to  be 


VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  153 

popular  with  them.  They  hated  the  Roman  yoke;  and  in 
the  quarrel  between  Herod  and  Aretas,  their  sympathies  were 
entirely  with  the  latter.  As  for  Herod,  in  his  own  dominions 
he  was  not  much  liked,  and  beyond  them,  he  was  detested. 


FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

VISIT  TO  JERUSALEM ACTS  IX.  26-30;    GAL.  1.  18. 

On  escaping  from  Damascus  Saul  proceeded  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  had  not  yet  been  since  his  conversion. 

The  direct  narrative,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  does  not 
acquaint  us  with  his  precise  object  in  at  length  returning  to 
that  city ;  but  Saul  supplies  the  omission  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  by  stating  that  he  went  to  Jerusalem  "  to  see  Peter." 
This  apostle  had  been  so  conspicuous  in  the  first  proceedings 
of  the  disciples,  after  their  Lord  had  been  taken  from  them, 
that  one  who  had  regarded  those  proceedings  with  hostile 
attention,  as  Saul  had  done,  must  have  seen  him  often,  and 
probably  heard  him  sometimes.  What  he  had  seen  thus  for- 
merly, and  what  he  had  heard,  however  adversely  it  had  then 
impressed  him,  now  interested  him  deeply,  and  he  longed  to 
form  the  personal  acquaintance  of  one  who  seemed  a  pillar 
of  the  rising  church,  who  had  been  the  earliest  disciple  and 
close  associate  of  Jesus,  and  whose  history  afforded  some 
points  in  which  he  could  deeply  sympathize  ;  for  Peter,  after 
thrice  denying  his  Lord,  had  been  pardoned  and  restored,  and 
Saul,  after  being  a  destroyer  of  the  Christians,  had  been  con' 
verted  to  the  faith  they  held,  and  placed  among  their  leaders 
and  chiefs.  Both  had  "  lien  among  the  pots,"  yet  had  risen 
soaringly  from  their  low  estate,  as  "  a  dove  with  wings  of  silver 
and  feathers  of  yellow  gold."  He  had  also,  doubtless,  heard 
of  Peter  from  the  disciples  of  Damascus.  He  was  at  least  as 
conspicuous  a  character  in  their  view  as  he  is  in  ours  ;  and  we, 
from  the  Scripture  alone,  know  far  more  of  him  than  of  any  of 

7* 


154  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

the  other  original  apostles,  and  understand  his  character  far 
better  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  unfounded  claims  on  behalf 
of  Peter,  which  a  corrupt  church  has  advanced  for  the  promo- 
tion of  its  own  ambitious  aims,  have  created  in  many  minds 
an  indisposition,  if  not  a  repugnance,  to  recognize  his  actual 
prominence  in  the  evangelical  history,  or  to  acknowledge  his 
really  just  claims  to  consideration.  We  may  see  this  even  in 
the  writings  of  men  of  high  character  and  fairness,  to  whom 
it  would  be  not  only  wrong  but  foolish  to  impute  any  more 
than  an  unconscious  bias.  We  detect  a  hesitancy  in  discussing 
those  great  facts  in  Scripture  history  in  which  Peter  is  the 
prominent  figure — a  careful  choice  of  limiting  words — a  secret 
fear  lest  too  much  to  his  advantage  should  be  admitted.  In 
all  this  we  see  the  influence  of  that  natural  reaction  which 
takes  place,  to  the  disadvantage  of  those  in  whose  behalf  exor- 
bitant pretensions  have  been  made,  creating  a  disposition  to 
disparage  them  and  to  ignore  their  rightful  claims.  It  is  nat- 
ural ;  but  it  is  sadly  natural ;  and  it  is  wrong.  Besides,  it  is 
needless.  Take  any  twelve  men  acting  together  as  a  society, 
a  committee,  a  board,  a  jury,  and  we  shall  always  find  one  who, 
from  his  position  or  character,  from  his  readiness  of  speech, 
his  exact  judgment,  his  talent  for  business,  or  from  all  or  any 
of  the  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  an  influential  character, 
becomes  by  much  the  most  prominent  man  in  that  body — 
comes  more  into  view  than  any  one  among  them — and  whose 
name  is  much  more  familiar  than  theirs  to  the  public  ear ;  and 
yet  who  himself  would  be  the  first  to  deny  that  he  has  any 
right  of  authority  or  dominion  over  those  with  whom  he  acts. 
Of  all  the  modes  of  influence,  this,  arising  from  character  and 
endowments,  is  the  least  obnoxious  and  the  most  cheerfully 
recognized.  We  see  it  exercised  daily  in  our  town  councils, 
in  our  parish  vestries,  and  why  should  we  be  so  anxious  to 
deny  or  to  attenuate  it  in  the  case  of  Peter  ? 

Let  us  meet  the  case  boldly,  and  say  that  both  on  public 
and  private  grounds  there  was  much  reason  why  Saul  should 
desire  to  form  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  ardent  and 
zealous  apostle,  who  was  then  the  most  conspicuous  person  in 


VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  155 

the  church ;  in  whose  character  he  now  saw  sj  much  to  respect 
and  admire ;  and  whose  brother  in  the  work  and  faith  of  the 
Gospel,  he  had,  by  Divine  appointment,  now  become.  Instruc- 
tion from  Peter,  or  authority  or  recognition  from  him,  he 
needed  not.  Both  of  them  had  been  taught  by  the  same 
Master,  both  authorized  by  the  same  Lord.  But  we  cannot 
doubt  that  Saul  promised  himself  much  satisfaction  in  hold- 
ing converse  with  one  who  had  been  so  intimately  near  the 
Lord's  person  while  on  earth,  and  who  could  therefore  tell 
him  much  that  he  desired  to  know. 

On  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  however,  his  reception  by  the 
disciples  was  not  such  as  he  expected.  He  was  regarded  with  dis- 
trust and  suspicion,  and  his  attempts  to  unite  himself  to  them 
were  discouraged  or  repelled.  This  seems  strange  to  us  ;  but 
it  is  not  unaccountable.  The  disciples  would  naturally  retain 
a  more  vivid  recollection  of  the  suffering  this  man  had  for- 
merly caused  among  them,  and  the  inveteracy  of  his  hatred 
against  them,  than  of  the  rumor  they  might  have  heard  a 
good  while  since  of  his  conversion  in  a  distant  city,  subse- 
quently to  which  he  had  for  a  considerable  period  disappeared 
from  public  view ;  and  it  is  likely  they  had  not  heard  of  his 
reappearance  at  Damascus,  and  of  the  more  recent  proceed- 
ings in  that  city — as  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  between 
Aretas  on  one  side,  and  Herod  with  the  Romans  on  the  other, 
was  unfavorable  to  communications  between  the  two  cities; 
and  although  there  was  ordinarily  much  intercourse  between 
these  places,  yet  about  this  time  there  were  circumstances  (as 
we  shall  presently  see)  calculated  to  deter  the  Christians  of 
Damascus  from  visiting  Jerusalem. 

Saul  also,  from  the  hurried  circumstances  of  his  escape,  was 
probably  unprovided  with  those  letters  of  recommendation 
with  which,  in  those  days,  a  disciple  going  to  another  city  was 
usually  furnished  by  those  belonging  to  the  place  he  had  left. 
It  is  also  quite  possible  that,  in  attempting  to  disguise  the  loss 
they  had  sustained,  the  Jewish  authorities  had  spread  reports 
tending  to  throw  discredit  upon  the  reality  or  sincerity  of  his 
conversion,  and  to  damage  him  in  the  estimation  of  those  he 


156  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

had  joined.  At  all  events,  it  seems  not  difficult  to  understand 
how  the  disciples  at  Jerusalem  should  have  shrunk  with  instinct- 
ive dread  and  suspicion,  from  one  who  had  been  so  violent  a 
persecutor,  whose  conversion  seemed  altogether  so  improb- 
able, and  of  whose  later  proceedings  they  had  no  information. 
From  this  trouble  Saul  was  relieved  by  that  good  Barnabas 
of  whom  we  have  formerly  heard,  and  who  in  this  case  also 
proved  himself  a  true  "  son  of  consolation."  It  is  quite  likely 
that  Saul  and  Barnabas  had  been  previously  acquainted  at 
Tarsus,  and  afterwards  at  Jerusalem ;  for  Cilicia  lay  on  the 
part  of  the  Asiatic  coast  nearest  to  the  island  of  Cyprus,  to 
which  Barnabas  belonged,  and  there  was  much  intercourse  be- 
tween it  and  the  mainland,  where  Saul's  native  place  was  the 
nearest  important  city.  In  this  case,  or  if  only  because  that 
Barnabas  was,  like  himself,  not  a  native  Jew,  it  was  natural 
that  he  should  apply  to  him  for  an  introduction  to  the  church 
at  Jerusalem.  To  him  he  doubtless  explained  all  that  had 
happened  to  him,  and  the  course  he  had  taken  ;  and  Barnabas, 
convinced  of  his  truth,  took  hirn  by  the  hand,  and,  by  giving 
the  sanction  of  his  high  authority  to  the  recital  of  Saul's  conver- 
sion and  recent  proceedings,  secured  for  him  a  most  cordial 
reception  from  the  disciples.  He  then  realized  his  object ;  for 
Peter  took  him  to  lodge  with  him ;  and  for  a  fortnight  the 
two  apostles — the  great  apostle  of  the  circumcision,  and  the 
great  apostle  of  the  uncircumcision — remained  under  the  same 
roof.  Happy  days  for  both,  doubtless,  were  these ;  and  one 
seems  to  long  for  further  information  than  has  been  vouch- 
safed respecting  the  first  interview  and  subsequent  intercourse 
between  these  truly  "great  men."  For  this,  and  for  much 
that  we  want  to  know,  we  must  be  content  to  wait.  Perhaps 
Saul  will  tell  us  one  day ;  perhaps  Peter  will ;  perhaps  we 
shall  know  without  their  telling.  But  we  do  know  that  these 
days  did  not  last.  Saul,  as  usual,  burning  to  be  useful,  put 
his  hand  boldly  into  the  hornet's  nest,  by  preaching  Christ 
crucified  in  the  synagogues  of  the  Hellenists — in  the  very 
synagogues  in  which  he  had  last  appeared  as  the  most  ardent 
champion  and  most  promising  advocate  of  Pharisaic  Judaism. 


CORROBORATIVE    CIRCUMSTANCES.  157 

Phis  was  not  to  be  borne,  and  a  conspiracy  was  now  laid  against 
his  life.  What  was  he  to  do?  We  happen  to  know  that  be 
was  sensitive  respecting  his  recent  withdrawal  from  Damascus, 
He  counts  it  among  his  "  infirmities,"  and  feared  lest  it  should 
appear  that  he  had  shunned  to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake.  It  is 
likely  that,  in  this  state  of  feeling,  he  would  have  remained  at 
Jerusalem,  to  seal  his  testimony,  as  Stephen  had  done,  with 
his  blood.  But  it  was  not  so  to  be.  The  time  was  not  come. 
There  was  much  for  him  to  do,  and  much  to  suffer,  before  he 
could  obtain  that  high  advancement.  He  was  therefore  warned 
by  his  Lord  in  a  vision,  as  he  was  at  prayer  in  the  Temple, 
that  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  would  not  receive  his  testimony. 
This  was  not  his  vocation.  He  was  to  labor  far  off  among  the 
Gentiles,  and  to  them  he  was  accordingly  sent.  The  disciples 
conducted  him  down  to  the  port  of  Caesarea,  and  saw  him 
safely  embarked  for  Tarsus,  his  native  city. 


FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK— THURSDAY . 

CORROBORATIVE  CIRCUMSTANCES. GAL.   1.  18,   19. 

It  has  been  before  intimated  that  the  narrative  of  these 
transactions,  which  Saul  himself  gives  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  is  produced  argumentatively  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  that  he  derived  not  his  apostolic  authority  from  any 
human  appointment,  nor  his  doctrine  from  any  human  teach- 
ing. The  only  fact  in  his  history  that  could  furnish  a  hold  for 
any  contrary  conclusion,  was  this  visit  of  his  to  Jerusalem. 
He  therefore  recites  the  circumstances  of  that  visit,  to  show 
how  they  agreed  with  the  assertion  of  his  own  independence. 
In  doing  this,  he  produces  details,  which  are  not  furnished  by 
Luke  in  his  general  narrative  of  the  events,  but  which  fit  ex- 
actly into  that  narrative.  He  shows  that,  after  his  conversion, 
he  had  little  if  any  intercourse  with  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem, 
or  with  the  churches  in  Judea.     After  his  conversion  he  with- 


158  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — THURSDAY. 

drew  into  Arabia,  and  it  was  not  until  three  years  subsequently 
that  he  went  to  Jerusalem,  after  he  had  already  been  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  boldly,  as  one  fully  authorized  and  qualified  to 
do  so.  Then,  although  he  did  go  to  Jerusalem,  it  was  only 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Peter ; 
and  his  stay  was  short — only  fifteen  days, — during  which  he 
saw  no  other  apostle,  "  save  James,  the  Lord's  brother."  He 
there  could  not  have  been  commissioned  or  authorized  by  the 
college  of  the  apostles,  for  they  were  actually  not  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  or,  if  they  were,  had  not  become  known  to  him.  It  is 
inferred  that  all  save  .two  had  quitted  Jerusalem  on  various 
evangelical  missions ;  but,  as  the  word  translated  "  to  see" 
often  means  to  form  the  personal  acquaintance  of  one,  he  may 
mean,  when  he  says  that  he  saw  none  of  the  apostles  but  Peter 
and  James,  that  he  became  personally  acquainted  only  with 
these  two,  though  more  than  these  may  have  been  at  Jeru- 
susalem.  Then,  in  another  place  (Acts  xxii.  17—21),  he  gives 
an  incidental  corroboration  of  his  statements,  by  showing  that 
he  did  not  depart  from  Jerusalem  under  any  delegation  or 
appointment  from  the  apostles,  but  by  special  command  of  the 
Lord  himself,  who  had  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision.  Further, 
he  shows  that,  when  he  did  take  his  departure,  it  was  by  a 
mode  which  precluded  him  from  visiting  the  Christian  churches 
in  Palestine,  so  that  he  remained  "  unknown  by  face  unto  the 
churches  of  Judea  which  were  in  Christ :  but  they  had  heard 
only,  that  he  which  persecuted  us  in  times  past,  now  preacheth 
the  faith  which  once  he  destroyed.  And  they  glorified  God 
in  me."  He  adds  that  fourteen  years  elapsed  before  he  again 
visited  Jerusalem.  All  these  are  new  points  which  do  not 
appear  in  Luke's  narrative,  and  it  is  worth  while  to  look  at 
them  separately. 

That  of  the  object,  "  to  see  Peter,"  has  already  been  suffi- 
ciently considered. 

From  the  shortu^ss  of  the  visit,  as  here  stated,  an  import- 
ant historical  consideration  arises,  which  has  been  well  pro- 
duced by  Dr.  Paley,  in  whose  words  it  had  best  be  given. 
"The  direct  account  */f  the  same  journey  in  the  Acts  ix.  28, 


CORROBORATIVE    CIRCUMSTANCES.  159 

determines  nothing  concerning  the  time  of  his  continuance 
there, — '  And  he  was  with  them  (the  apostles)  coming  in  and 
going  out  at  Jerusalem.  And  he  spake  boldly  in  the  name 
Df  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  disputed  against  the  Grecians  :  but 
they  went  about  to  slay  him,  which  when  the  brethren  knew, 
they  brought  him  down  to  Caesarea  ;' — or  rather  this  account, 
taken  by  itself,  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  St.  Paul's  abode 
at  Jerusalem  had  been  longer  than  fifteen  days.  But  turn  to 
the  twenty-second  chapter  of  the  Acts,  and  you  will  find  a 
reference  to  this  visit  to  Jerusalem,  which  plainly  indicates  that 
Paul's  visit  to  the  city  must  have  been  of  short  duration, — 
*  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  I  was  come  again  to  Jerusa- 
lem, even  while  I  prayed  in  the  temple,  I  was  in  a  trance ;  and 
saw  him  saying  unto  me,  Make  haste,  and  get  thee  quickly  out 
of  Jerusalem ;  for  they  will  not  receive  thy  testimony  con- 
cerning me.'  Here  we  have  the  general  terms  of  one  text  so 
explained  by  a  distant  text  in  the  same  book,  as  to  bring  an 
indeterminate  expression  into  a  close  conformity  with  a  specifi- 
cation delivered  in  another  book, — a  species  of  consistency  not, 
I  think,  usually  found  in  fabulous  relations." 

The  same  writer  points  to  the  distinctive  mention  of  the 
James,  with  whom  Saul  became  acquainted  at  Jerusalem,  as 
"  the  Lord's  brother."  "  There  were  at  Jerusalem  two  apostles, 
or  at  least  two  eminent  members  of  the  church,  of  the  name 
of  James."  This  is  directly  inferred  from  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  which,  in  the  second  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter, 
relates  the  death  of  James,  the  brother  of  John ;  and  yet,  in 
the  fifteenth  chapter,  and  in  a  subsequent  part  of  the  history, 
records  a  speech  delivered  by  "  James,"  in  the  assembly  of  the 
apostles  and  elders.  It  is  also  strongly  implied  in  the  Epistle 
— "  Other  of  the  apostles  saw  I  none,  save  James,  the  Lord's 
brother ;"  that  is,  to  distinguish  him  from  "  James,  the  brother 
of  John."  In  this  matter  the  Rev.  T.  R.  Birks,  in  his  ITorce 
Apostolicce,  has  pointed  out  a  minute  trait  of  historical  accu- 
racy which  Paley  had  not  observed.  The  apostle  James  is 
named  three  times  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  but  only  in 
this  first  instance  with  this  distinctive  title.     The  history  sup- 


160  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — THURSDAY. 

plies  a  full  key.  These  several  indications  of  James  occur  in 
connection  with  the  mention  of  Saul's  two  visits  to  Jerusalem, 
one  fourteen  years  after  the  other.  At  the  time  of  the  first  visit, 
both  the  apostles  called  James  being  alive,  and  both  usually  res- 
ident at  Jerusalem  (though  one  may  have  been  temporarily  ab- 
sent), it  became  necessary  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other, 
to  preclude  misapprehension.  But  at  the  second  visit,  James, 
the  brother  of  John,  having  been  long  dead,  this  became  need- 
less, and  "  James"  was  alone  a  sufficient  specification.  "  A  dis- 
tinctive addition  to  the  name  was  thus  as  natural  in  the  one 
case  as  it  would  have  been  superfluous,  and  even  suspicious,  in 
the  other."  The  same  distinction  is  observed  in  the  book  of 
the  Acts.  In  the  earlier  part  the  two  apostles  of  this  name 
are  distinguished, — "  the  brother  of  John,"  or  "  the  son  of 
Alpheus."  But  after  the  elder  James  was  martyred,  the  one 
who  remained  at  Jerusalem  is  three  times  called  "  James" 
simply,  without  any  addition.  "  This  minute  propriety,"  Mr. 
Birks  observes,  "is  too  delicate  and  refined  to  be  easily  ac- 
counted for,  except  by  the  fact,  that  Luke  and  Paul  were  con- 
temporary with  the  events  they  record." 

In  the  incidental  intimation,  that  he  saw  also  "  James  the 
Lord's  brother,"  there  is  a  curiously  minute  coincidence,  which 
reconciles  the  previous  statement  with  the  history.  Saul  him- 
self has  told  us,  that  he  went  to  see  Peter,  and  abode  with 
him  fifteen  days.  St.  Luke  tells  us  that  Barnabas  took  him, 
and  introduced  him  to  the  apostles.  Now  the  statements,  if 
completed  here,  would  scarcely  be  in  agreement.  But  when 
we  learn  that  he  met  with  a  second  apostle,  though  it  were 
only  one,  they  are  brought  into  coincidence,  since  the  plural 
form  requires  more  than  one  apostle  to  have  been  present, 
but  cannot  with  certainty  imply  any  greater  number. 

If  we  turn  to  the  direct  narrative  in  the  Acts,  we  shall  re- 
ceive the  impression,  that  on  his  departure  Saul  was  conduct- 
ed to  the  port  of  Caesarea,  and  there  took  ship  for  Tarsus. 
But  Saul's  own  words  in  the  Epistle, — "  Afterwards  I  came  to 
the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia," — have  been  thought  by  some 
to  necessitate  the  conclusion,  that  he  travelled  over  land  from 


THE  BRETHREN  OF  JESUS.  161 

Jerusalem  to  Cilicia,  and  that  the  Caesarea  in  question  was 
not  the  city  of  that  name  upon  the  coast,  but  Caesarea  Phil- 
ippi,  near  the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  To  this  we  may  object, 
that  in  this  case  he  could  not  have  been,  as  he  says  he  was, 
unknown  by  face  to  the  churches  of  Judea,  and  that  when  the 
name  Caesarea  occurs  simply,  it  always  denotes  the  great  mar- 
itime Caesarea,  never  Caesarea  Philippi.  Some,  who  admit 
the  latter  fact,  conclude  that  the  land  journey  was  made  from 
the  city  on  the  coast.  If  so,  it  was  a  very  inexplicable  pro- 
ceeding. People  do  not  go  far  out  of  their  way  to  a  port 
whence  they  may  find  easy  and  quick  access  by  water  to  the 
desired  place,  and  then  start  on  a  tedious  overland  journey  to 
that  place.  But  although  Paley  declares  the  connection  to  be 
inexplicable  without  the  supposition  of  such  a  journey,  when 
the  text  is  closely  examined,  there  will  be  found  no  real  need 
for  this  supposition,  nor  any  want  of  connection  between  the 
passages  as  they  stand.  Saul  does  not  seem  to  refer  exclusive- 
ly or  mainly  to  the  few  days  of  his  journey,  but  to  the  scene 
of  many  years'  subsequent  labor  in  Syria  and  Cilicia ;  and 
while  he  was  thus  engaged,  the  churches  in  Judea,  though  he 
was  personally  unknown  to  them,  "  heard  "  (rather  kept  hear- 
ing, that  is  continually,  or  from  time  to  time)  how  zealously 
he  "  preached  the  faith  he  had  once  destroyed." 


FORTY-FOURTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE  BRETHREN  OF  JESUS. GAL.  I.   19. 

We  are  quite  sure  that  many  of  those  who  have  perused  the 
two  last  Readings  have  paused  over  the  passages,  in  which 
Saul  is  represented  as  stating  that,  besides  Peter,  he  became 
known  only  to  "  James,  the  Lord's  brother," — to  consider  in 
in  what  sense  this  person  could  have  stood  in  that  relation  to 
Christ.  This  question  is  in  fact  both  more  curious  and  more 
difficult  than  it  even  appears ;  and  for  this  reason  we  may  not 
let  it  pass  unexamined. 


162  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

This  carries  our  recollection  back  to  the  instances  in  the 
Gospels,  in  which  our  Lord's  "  brethren,"  and  even  his  "  sisters," 
are  mentioned.*  Now,  at  the  outset,  it  is  very  clear,  that  un- 
less there  are  very  strong  and  very  probable  reasons  why  these 
terms  should  not  be  taken  in  their  plain,  primary  and  natural 
sense,  they  ought  to  be  so  understood. 

Are  there  any  such  reasons  ?  Some  such  have  been  urged, 
and  it  is  our  task  to  look  into  them. 

It  is  alleged,  that  the  term  "brother"  is  too  vaguely  and 
comprehensively  used  in  Scripture,  to  be  insisted  upon  in  the 
literal  sense.  It  does  not  appear  to  us,  however,  to  be  more 
largely  used  than  in  our  own  language,  particularly  by  the 
elder  writers,  and  especially  by  theological  writers ;  and  we 
might  easily  undertake  to  parallel  every  Scripture  instance 
by  some  from  English  authors.  Yet  in  every  instance,  we 
know  or  judge  from  the  subject  or  context,  in  what  sense  the 
term  is  used ;  and  if  nothing  appears  to  extend  the  sense,  we 
have  no  hesitation  to  take  it  in  its  restricted  and  proper  sense. 
Most  stress,  however,  is  laid  on  the  alleged  fact,  that  the  term 
"  brother  "  is  often  used  to  denote  any  near  relative.  Let  us 
not,  in  such  a  case,  take  anything  for  granted,  but  look.  We 
do  look  and  discover  that  this  does  not  often  occur,  and  that 
then  it  does  not  denote  any  near  relationship,  but  only  one, 
that  of  a  nephew.  The  only  cases  are  those  in  which  Lot, 
the  brother's  son  of  Abaham,  is  called  his  "  brother,"!  and  in 
which  Laban  applies  the  same  term  to  Jacob,  his  sister's  son,J 
— that  is  to  say,  a  man  designates  as  "  brother  "  the  children 
of  those  to  whom  he  is  a  brother.  Again,  these  instances  oc- 
cur seventeen  centuries  before  the  time  of  Christ,  during 
which,  as  was  natural,  great  changes  in  the  use  of  words 
took  place.  Both  also  occur  in  the  same  book.  As,  there- 
fore, this  employment  of  the  word  "  brother  "  does  not  subse- 
quently occur,  we  may  infer  that  it  had  dropped  out  of  use. 
The  words  "kinsman"  and  "kindred"  are  quite  in  such  fre- 
quent use  as  to  show  that  "  brother "  and  "  brethren  "  need 

*  Matt.  xii.  46 :  xiii.  56  ;  Mark  iii.  31  ;  Luke  viii.  19, 
f  Gen.  xii.  5;  xiv.  16.  X  Gen-  xxix-  15- 


THE    BRETHREN    OF    JESUS.  163 

not  be  employed  to  denote  near  relationship  for  want  of  more 
definite  terms.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  although  the  term 
"  brother  "  was  in  patriarchal  times  used  to  denote  the  nearest 
relation  next  to  a  brother,  that  is  a  nephew,  this  was  not  ex- 
tended to  any  remoter  relations,  and  eventually  ceased  to  be 
applied  even  to  that  relationship.  David  never  applies  the 
term  to  the  sons  of  his  sister  Zeruiah,  although  much  conver- 
sation between  them  is  reported.  He  calls  them  "  sons  of 
Zeruiah."  And  in  the  New  Testament  itself  the  same  rela- 
tion as  that  which  subsisted  between  Laban  and  Jacob  is  de- 
noted not  by  "brother"  but  by  "sister's  son," — "Marcus, 
sister's  son  to  Barnabas,  saluteth  you."*  "  Paul's  sister's  son 
heard  of  their  lying  in  wait."f  If  this  near  relationship  was 
not  denoted  by  the  term  "  brother,"  is  it  likely  that  any  re- 
moter relationship  should  be  distinguished  by  it  ? 

There  is,  therefore,  nothing,  we  apprehend,  in  the  use  of  the 
language  alone,  to  warrant  us  in  taking  the  terms  "  brother  " 
and  "  brethren  "  in  any  but  the  natural  and  obvious  sense. 

It  then  remains  to  ask,  whether  there  be  anything  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  to  over-rule  this  consideration,  and 
compel  us  to  receive  the  term  in  any  other  than  its  obvious 
meaning.  We  know  not  any ;  and  it  seems  to  us  very  clear 
that  the  idea  that  these  terms  were  to  be  taken  in  any  other 
sense  would  never  have  occurred,  had  not  the  desire  been  first 
felt  to  throw  doubt  on  the  matter,  owing  to  the  notions  which 
crept  into  the  church  respecting  the  mother  of  Jesus — notions 
which  the  Roman  church  still  upholds,  and  which  proclaim 
her  to  have  remained  "  always  a  virgin ;"  and  which  have 
lately  had  their  complete  development  in  the  formal  recogni- 
tion by  that  church  of  the  previously  private  doctrine,  that 
her  own  birth  was  no  less  miraculous  ("  immaculate  "  is  their 
word)  than  that  of  her  sou  ;  and  this  itself  having  its  origin 
in  views  dishonoring  to  the  marriage  relation,  and  exaltive  of 
celibacy,  which  also  came  to  be  entertained,  but  for  which 
there  is  no  Scripture  warrant  whatever.  But  we  are  not 
bound  by  Roman  views.  We  are  free  to  see  plainly  what 
*  Col.  iv.  1C,  }  Acts  xxiii.  16. 


164  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

Scripture  teaches;  and  in  the  face  of  what  Scripture  does 
teach  or  intimate,  it  can  only  be  owing  to  some  taint  of  the 
old  Roman  leaven — the  habit  of  an  ancient  time — that  many 
among  us  shrink  from  the  idea,  that  Mary  may  have  had  other 
child,  en  than  Jesus.  If  we  turn  to  the  passage  in  which  the 
"brethren"  of  Jesus  are  mentioned,  there  seems  to  be  every 
needful  indication  of  the  simply  natural  sense, — they  are  so 
associated  with  his  mother  as  would  alone,  apart  from  any 
theory,  suggest  that  they  stood  in  a  filial  relation  to  her.  In 
Matt.  xii.  46,  we  read,  "His  mother  and  his  brethren  stood 
without,  desiring  to  speak  with  Him,"  or,  as  Mark  (iii.  31)  re- 
lates it :  "  There  came  then  his  brethren  and  his  mother,  and 
standing  without,  sent  unto  Him ;"  and  so  the  parallel  place 
in  Luke  viii.  19.  And  unless  those  thus  designated  stood  in 
the  nearest  possible  relation  to  our  Lord,  the  reply  He  gave  to 
the  intimation  of  their  presence,  loses  much  of  its  force ;  for 
in  declaring  that  his  mother  and  his  brethren  were  such  as 
heard  the  word  of  God  and  did  it,  He  plainly  means  that  such 
were  as  near  and  as  dear  as  those  who  stood  in  the  closest 
natural  relation  to  Him.  Substitute  any  other  word  for  that 
of  "  brethren,"  and  the  sense  becomes  frigid.  They  appear 
constantly  together  as  forming  one  family,  in  a  way  scarcely 
possible  among  more  distant  relations.  So,  in  John  ii.  12, 
"  After  this  He  went  down  to  Capernaum,  He,  and  his  mother, 
and  his  brethren,  and  his  disciples."  Still  more  emphatic  is 
the  collective  recognition  of  the  family  by  the  offended  Jews 
at  Nazareth  :  "  Is  not  this  the  Carpenter's  son  ?  Is  not  his 
mother  called  Mary  ?  And  his  brethren,  James,  and  Joses, 
and  Simon,  and  Judas  ?  And  his  sisters,  are  they  not  all 
with  us?"  Matt.  xiii.  55,  56.  In  this  text  there  are  not  only 
brethren,  but  "  sisters."  Now,  we  say  that  no  one  who  reads 
these  passages  with  a  free  mind,  and  without  being  aware  of 
any  reasons  to  the  contrary,  would  take  the  terms  in  any 
other  than  the  primary  sense, — and  who  is  aware  of  any  such 
reasons  ? 

Still  the  term  "  brethren"  does  not  necessarily  imply  uterine 
brethren.     It  is  in  Scripture  applied  to  children  of  the  same 


JAMES,  THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  165 

father,  but  of  different  mothers  ;  *  or,  vice  versa,  of  those  born 
of  the  same  mother,  but  by  different  fathers.  Either  circum 
stance  is  supposable  in  the  present  case.  There  seems,  how- 
ever, every  reason  to  infer,  from  the  Scriptural  intimations,  that 
Mary  never  married  again  after  the  death  of  Joseph.  If,  there- 
fore, the  "  brethren"  and  "  sisters"  of  Jesus  were  not  the  child- 
ren of  Joseph  and  Mary,  the  probability  remains,  that  they 
were  his  children  by  a  former  marriage — a  probability  strength- 
ened by  the  considerations  which  have  generally  led  to  the 
conclusion,  that  Joseph  had  passed  his  youth  when  Mary  be- 
came his  wife. 


FOURTY-FOURTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

JAMES,  THE  LORD'S  BROTHER. GAL.  I.  19. 

If  the  conclusions  which  we  reached  last  evening  be  cor- 
rect, it  seems  to  follow  that  "  James,  the  Lord's  brother,"  was 
either  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  or  at  least  the  son  of 
Joseph. 

But  it  must  not  be  concealed  that  there  are  difficulties  stand- 
ing in  the  way  of  this  conclusion.  This  James  appears,  at 
least  by  implication,  to  have  been  an  apostle ;  and  in  the  list 
of  the  twelve,  the  two  apostles  of  that  name  are  called  re- 
spectively the  sons  of  Zebedee  and  of  Alpheus.  To  meet  this 
it  has  been  suggested  that  Alpheus  was  the  brother  of  Joseph, 
and  he  having  died  childless,  Joseph,  as  the  law  required, 
espoused  the  widow,  and  had  by  her  a  child,  who  was  called 
the  son  of  Alpheus.  Thus,  "  James,  the  Lord's  brother,"  and 
"  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,"  would  be  the  same.  But  this 
will  not  bear  close  examination.  It  is  generally  assumed  that 
the  mother  of  this  latter  James  was  alive  during  our  Lord's 
ministry,  and  that  she  appears  in  the  Gospel  history  under  the 
name  of  "  Mary  the  mother  of  James."  Therefore,  under  the 
supposition  stated,  this  Mary  would  have  been  Joseph's  wife 

*  Gen.  xlii.  15  ;  xliii.  3.    Judges  viii.  19. 


166  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

at  the  time  he  espoused  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus.  But 
polygamy  was  not  then  practiced  among  the  Jews,  and  it  is 
not  probable,  even  though  it  had  been,  that  a  person  in 
Joseph's  circumstances  would  have  had  two  wives  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  very  clear,  then,  that  if  the  two  designations  are 
not  applicable  to  the  same  person,  "  James,  the  Lord's  broth- 
er," was  not  one  of  the  twelve.  Those,  of  course,  who  say 
that  "  brother"  means  merely  a  near  relation,  find  no  difficulty 
here,  considering  that  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  is  called  the 
Lord's  brother,  as  being  a  near  relation — his  cousin — the  son 
of  his  mother's  sister.  But  the  notion  that  even  this  degree 
of  relationship,  or  any  relationship,  did  subsist,  rests  on  a  very 
slender  foundation ;  for  it  is  far  from  certain  that  the  only  text 
cited  in  proof  of  it  will  bear  this  meaning.  It  is  that  in  which 
the  names  are  given  of  the  women  who  stood  around  the 
cross  on  which  our  Lord  was  crucified, — "  His  and  his  moth- 
er's sister,  Mary  the  wife  of  Cleophas,  and  Mary  Magdalene." 
John  xix.  25.  Now,  although  we  know  from  Mark  xv.  40, 
that  the  mother  of  James  the  Less  (usually  assumed  to  be 
James  the  son  of  Alpheus),  was  called  Mary,  nothing  can  be 
built  upon  the  analogy  of  a  name  so  common  as  the  text  just 
cited  shows  that  of  "  Mary"  to  have  been.  Then  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  "  his  mother's  sister,"  is  to  be  taken  in  appo- 
sition with  "  Mary  the  wife  of  Cleophas,"  and  does  not  rather 
denote  a  different  person.  It  seems,  indeed,  very  unlikely 
that  two  sisters  should  bear  the  same  name.  Then,  again,  if 
this  Mary  were  the  sister  of  our  Lord's  mother,  it  does  not 
follow  that  James  was  her  son,  for  James  was  the  son  of  Al- 
pheus, and  "  Mary  the  mother  of  James,"  is  never  described 
as  the  wife  of  Alpheus,  but  as  "  the  wife  of  Cleophas ;"  and  it 
is  not  certain  that  the  names  Cleophas  and  Alpheus  denote 
the  same  person.  There  are  thus  two  uncertain  assumptions 
in  the  theory  which  makes  James  the  son  of  Alpheus  even  a 
relation  of  our  Lord,  and  therefore,  even  in  the  remotest  sense, 
his  "  brother." 

It  claims  also  to  be  noticed  that  several  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian writers  distinguish  James  the  son  of  Alpheus,  from  James 


JAMES,  THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  167 

the  Lord's  brothel" ;  and  there  are  lists  of  the  apostles  extant 
in  "which  the  names  of  Paul,  and  of  James,  the  Lord's  brother, 
are  added  to  those  of  the  twelve. 

But  we  are  reminded  of  the  passages  in  the  Gospels  which 
assure  us  that  the  brethren  of  Jesus  did  not  believe  in  him — 
were  not  his  followers  or  adherents.  This  is  true ;  and  it  tells 
against  the  identity  of  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  with  James, 
the  son  of  Alpheus,  who  was  not  only  a  believer  but  an  apostle. 
But  the  "  brethren"  did  not  always  continue  in  this  state  of 
unbelief.  After  the  ascension  of  Jesus,  we  find  them,  with 
Mary,  in  the  company  of  the  apostles,  awaiting  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  St.  Luke,  after  enumerating  the  apostles  (among 
whom,  as  usual,  we  find  "  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus"),  goes 
on  to  say, — they  all  continue  with  one  accord  in  prayer  and 
supplication,  with  the  women,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus, 
and  with  his  brethren.  This  passage,  besides  showing  that 
the  brethren  had  become  believers,  expressly  distinguishes  them 
from  the  apostles,  of  whom  the  son  of  Alpheus  is  one — 
another  reason  against  his  identification  with  the  Lord's  brother. 

In  the  list  of  the  "  brethren"  of  Jesus,  given  by  the  Jews 
of  Nazareth,  there  is  one  bearing  the  name  of  James.  Here, 
then,  is  literally  a  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  and  he  was  not 
likely  to  have  had  another  brother  of  the  same  name.  What 
hinders  us  from  regarding  this  one  as  that  brother  of  our  Lord 
with  whom  Saul  became  acquainted  at  Jerusalem  ?  It  will 
instantly  be  replied,  he  was  not  an  apostle  if  other  than  the 
son  of  Alpheus.  This  is  more  than  we  can  tell.  He  was 
not  in  that  case  one  of  the  twelve,  it  is  certain ;  but  he  may, 
nevertheless,  have  been  an  apostle.  Saul  was  not  one  of  the 
twelve,  and  yet  he  was  an  apostle.  Barnabas  was  not  one  of 
the  twelve,  and  yet  he,  with  Saul,  are  called  "  apostles,"  in  the 
same  book  and  by  the  same  writer  (Acts  xiv.  4,  14),  whose 
use  of  the  term  in  application  to  "  James,  the  Lord's  brother," 
is  under  our  consideration.  There  is,  therefore,  no  argument 
against  his  being  an  apostle  from  the  fact  that  he  was  not  one 
of  the  twelve ;  nor  can  there  be  any  from  our  ignorance  of 
the  circumstances  under  which  he  was  called  to  the  apostolate. 


168  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

The  only  argument  against  it  that  remains  to  be  urged  is,  the 
unlikelihood  that  so  recent  a  convert  should  so  soon  be  ad- 
vanced to  this  high  trust.  But  Saul  and  Barnabas  were  still 
later  converts,  if,  as  there  is  not  the  least  reason  to  question, 
James  was  one  of  the  Lord's  "  brethren,"  who  remained  with 
the  apostles  awaiting  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

We  should  not,  however,  like  to  impair  the  force  of  the 
other  conclusions,  by  insisting  upon  the  one  which  cannot  be 
so  firmly  established — that  this  James  was  an  apostle  in  the 
fullest  and  most  absolute  sense  of  the  word.  Paul  certainly, 
and  Luke  (by  implication),  call  him  an  apostle  ;  but  it  seems 
that  certain  men,  standing  next  to  the  apostles  in  considera- 
tion and  influence,  were  popularly  called  "  apostles,"  and  were 
distinguished  in  ecclesiastical  history  as  "apostolical  men." 
It  is  possibly  in  this  sense  that  James  is  called  an  apostle, 
like  Barnabas,  who  was  not,  as  far  as  we  know,  officially  an 
apostle. 

The  results  to  which  all  these  considerations  seem  to  lead, 
are — that  the  persons  designated  in  the  Gospels  as  the  "  breth- 
ren" of  Jesus,  were  really  his  brothers  or  half-brothers — most 
probably  the  latter ;  that  James,  who  was  one  of  the  twelve, 
being  the  son  of  Alpheus,  could  not,  for  that  and  other  reasons, 
be  the  same  as  James,  the  Lord's  brother ;  and  that  the  James, 
thus  designated,  was  probably  an  apostle,  though  not  one  of 
the  twelve. 

In  pursuing  this  inquiry,  we  have  regarded  the  number  of 
those  bearing  the  name  of  James .  in  the  New  Testament  as 
three,  namely,  James  the  son  of  Zebedee,  James  the  son  of 
Alpheus,  and  James  the  Lord's  brother.  Some  find  four  or 
even  five,  while  others  reduce  them  to  two,  by  identifying  the 
son  of  Alpheus  with  the  Lord's  brother.  We  have  shown 
that  there  are  reasons  against  that  conclusion.  The  question 
will  pehaps  never  be  divested  of  all  difficulty.  The  fact  that 
the  names  of  the  sons  of  Alpheus  are  so  nearly  correspondent 
with  three  of  those  named  as  our  Lord's  "  brethren,"  has 
seemed  to  plead  for  the  identification  of  James  the  son  of 
Alpheus  with  James  the  Lord's  brother.     Thus  the  sons  of 


JAMES,  THE  LORDS  BROTHER.  169 

AJpheus  are  stated  to  be  James  and  Jude;  and  elsewhere 
James  and  Joses  are  mentioned  as  the  sons  of  Mary  the  wife 
of  Alphens  (if  the  same  as  Cleophas).  So  then  it  would  seem 
the  sons  of  this  family  were  James,  Jude,  Joses ;  and  these, 
with  the  addition  of  Simon,  are  exactly  the  names  of  those 
described  as  our  Lord's  brethren.  The  name  of  Simon  in  one 
group,  and  not  in  the  other,  does,  however,  create  a  difference. 
And  considering  how  exceeding  common  these  names  were, 
and  that  it  was  the  custom  of  kindred  to  bestow  similar  names 
on  their  children,  no  particular  stress  can  be  laid  upon  this 
sort  of  coincidence ;  and  we  have,  therefore,  not  taken  it  into 
account.  Something  of  the  same  perplexity  arises  in  reading 
Josephus,  from  the  frequent  recurrence  of  the  same  names. 
Thus  we  have  twenty-one  persons  of  the  name  of  Simon ; 
seventeen  called  Joseph  or  Joses ;  and  ten  named  Judas  or 
Jude — many  of  them  contemporaries.  It  is  not  unusual 
among  ourselves  for  the  children  of  related  families  to  have 
the  same  Christian  names,  and  very  often  the  same  names  run 
in  families  for  several  generations. 

Prior  to  the  careful  investigation  through  which  the  reader 
has  now  been  led,  we  rested  in  the  opinion  that  "  James,  the 
son  of  Alpheus,"  and  "  James,  the  Lord's  brother,"  were  the 
same  person.  That  against  this  prepossession  we  have  now 
reached  a  different  conclusion,  may  be  regarded  as  strength- 
ening its  claim  to  attention. 

Apart  from  all  these  questions,  however,  it  admits  of  no 
doubt  that  the  James  who  alone  appears  at  Jerusalem  after 
the  death  of  James,  the  brother  of  John,  is  the  one  whom 
Paul  designates  as  "  the  Lord's  brother,"  and  whom  elsewhere 
he  indicates,  with  Peter  and  John,  as  "  pillars  of  the  church," 
Gal.  ii.  9.  If,  also,  this  person — the  James  whom  he  person- 
ally knew — is,  as  it  is  reasonably  supposed,  the  one  he  always 
has  in  view,  when  he  speaks  of  "  James"  simply,  then  we 
gather  from  1  Cor.  xv.  7,  that  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  only 
eight  days  after  his  resurrection.  We  know  not  the  circum- 
stances ;  but  it  is  reasonable  to  presume  that  this  mark  of 
distinction  shown  him,  and  what  was  known  to  the  apostles 

vol..   TV.  8 


170  FORTY-FOURTH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

as  having  transpired  on  that  occasion,  not  only  decided  his 
own  views,  but  contributed  materially  to  the  high  considera- 
tion in  which  he  was  afterwards  held.  The  only  other 
scriptural  fact  concerning  him  is,  that,  at  the  council  of  the 
apostles  held  at  Jerusalem,  his  decision  on  the  questions  con- 
sidered is  the  only  one  recorded,  and  the  conclusions  of  the 
council  were  framed  in  accordance  with  it.  It  is  to  be  noted, 
also,  that  he  gave  his  vote  last — probably  as  being  president 
of  the  council, — a  station  which  may  have  been  assigned  to 
him  as  specially  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  the  church  in 
Jerusalem,  where  the  council  was  held  (Acts  xv.  12,  13).  His 
decision  shows  that,  although  himself  a  strict  observer  of  the 
law,  and  disposed  to  exact  the  same  observance  from  Jewish 
converts,  he  was  not  inclined  to  impose  this  yoke  upon  the 
converts  from  heathenism. 

This  is  the  amount  of  our  authentic  information  concerning 
James.  But  much  more  is  said  of  him  by  early  Christian 
writers,  who  agree  in  recognizing  the  James  who  was  bishop 
at  Jerusulem  as  "James,  the  Lord's  brother.  Some  of  this 
information,  embodying  the  early  traditions  of  the  church,  is 
probable  enough,  some  of  it  questionable,  and  some  of  it  con- 
tradictory. The  sum  of  it  is  this — for  we  cannot  here  enter 
into  particulars,  or  discriminate  their  claims  to  consideration, 
— James  was  from  his  childhood  brought  up  as  a  Nazarite  of 
the  strictest  sort.  He  observed  this  kind  of  life  after  he  be- 
came a  conspicuous  person  at  Jerusalem ;  and  this,  with  his 
strict  observance  of  the  law,  and  his  high  character,  obtained 
for  him  great  respect,  even  from  the  Jews,  so  that  he  acquired 
the  surname  of  "  the  Just."  The  rapid  progress  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  city,  however,  under  his  administration,  at  length 
aroused  the  attention  of  the  chief  persons  among  the  ruling 
party,  and  induced  the  high  priest,  Ananias,  to  devise  his 
death.  He  was,  therefore,  by  this  pontiffs  contrivance,  sud- 
denly cast  down  from  one  of  the  galleries  of  the  temple.  But 
he  died  not  of  the  fall ;  and  began,  like  another  Stephen, 
to  pray  for  his  murderers,  when  Ananias  directed  that  stones 


THE    HEART    OF    FLESH.  171 

should  be  cast  at  him ;  and  he  was  at  length  killed  by  a  blow- 
on  the  head  from  a  fuller's  pole. 

It  is  added  that  Ananias  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
when  there  was  no  Roman  governor  in  the  land,  Felix  having 
been  recalled,  and  his  successor,  Albinus,  not  having  yet  ar- 
rived. But  we  are  told  that  this  atrocious  deed  was  greatly 
disapproved,  and  much  lamented  by  the  wisest  of  the  Jews, 
whose  complaints  to  the  governor,  when  he  arrived,  procured 
the  deposition  of  Ananias.  We  are  also  assured,  on  the 
authority  of  a  doubtful  passage,  cited  by  Eusebius,  from  Jo- 
sephus,  that  the  Jews  imputed  to  the  death  of  this  just  man 
the  calamities  they  soon  after  suffered  from  the  hands  of  the 
Romans. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  this  James— that  is,  the 
James  who  was  bishop  at  Jerusalem — is  the  one  who  wrote 
the  Epistle  of  James.  Its  contents  have  been  shown,  by  Ne- 
ander  and  others,  to  be  conformable  to  the  character  and  posi- 
tion ascribed  to  him ;  and  commentators  have  not  failed  to 
remark  the  humbleness  with  which  the  writer  abstains  from 
denoting  his  claims  as  " the  Lord's  brother"  and  simply  super- 
scribes himself — "  James,  the  servant  of  God,  and  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 


jFortn-fifti)  ttteek— StttriWB 

THE  HEART  OF  FLESH. PHILIP.  I.  8. 

We  have  more  than  once  directed  attention  to  the  great 
change  which  was  wrought  in  Saul  by  his  conversion  to  Christ. 
This  change  affected  not  merely  his  views  and  sentiments,  but 
his  temper  and  character,  his  mind  and  heart. 

In  the  belief  that  there  are  few  scriptural  topics  more  truly 
edifying  than  the  consideration  of  this  change — than  the  con- 
templation of  the  truly  Christian  character  built  up  by  Divine 


1*72  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

grace  in  this  illustrious  apostle,  we  shall  this  evening  request 
attention  to  another  of  its  aspects. 

Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  record  of  Saul's 
history  ceased  with  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  and  that  we 
possessed  no  autographic  intimations  in  the  Epistles  of  his 
later  temper  and  conduct, — knowing  only  the  general  fact, 
that  he  became  a  great  apostle,  and  labored  with  extraordi- 
nary diligence  and  success  in  the  Lord's  vineyard ;  what  then, 
with  our  knowledge  of  his  previous  career,  with  our  recollec- 
tion of  its  violence,  injustice,  and  cruelty,  would  have  been 
the  idea  we  should  be  likely  to  form  of  his  subsequent  char- 
acter ?  It  seems  likely  that,  with  these  recollections,  and  with 
our  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  great  men  are  not  always  ami- 
able, that  good  men  are  not  always  kind,  that  pious  men  are 
not  always  tender-hearted, — we  should  conceive  of  Saul  as 
one  who,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  greatness,  goodness,  and  use- 
fulness, was  probably  a  harsh,  austere,  and  exacting  man,  in- 
capable of  much  tenderness  towards  others,  or  consideration 
for  their  infirmities. 

Yet  the  reverse  of  all  this  is  the  fact.  The  man  has  not 
lived  who  more  than  Saul,  after  his  conversion,  manifested  a 
gentle,  loving,  and  forbearing  temper;  or  who  showed  more 
tender  consideration  for  others,  more  generous  pity  for  their 
temporal  and  spiritual  wants.  It  would  be  little  to  say  of 
Saul,  that  after  his  conversion  he  was  no  longer  illiberal  in 
his  reproaches,  or  severe  in  his  accusations ;  that  he  reviled 
no  man ;  that  he  wronged  no  man ;  that  he  oppressed  no 
man — nay,  that  he  preserved  a  conscience  void  of  offence ;  or 
even  that  he  adhered  strictly  to  the  laws  of  truth  and  justice, 
integrity  and  faithfulness,  in  the  whole  of  his  conversation 
and  deportment.  He  was  far  more  than  all  this.  He  had 
learned  of  his  Divine  Master  lessons  of  meekness  and  forbear- 
ance, gentleness  and  kindness ;  and  had  imbibed  much  of  His 
lowly  and  lovely  spirit.  He  exemplified  it  by  his  patience, 
in  the  midst  of  severe  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in  distresses, 
in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labors,  in  watchings, 
in  fastings.     2  Cor.  vi.  4,  5.     In  one  word,  he  had  "  put  on 


THE   HEART    OF    FLESH.  173 

Christ,"  and  in  putting  Him  on  had  "  crucified  the  flesh  with 
its  affections  and  lusts,"  its  natural  tendencies  and  impulses, 
and  stood  forth  complete  in  Him — a  new  creature — a  far  bet- 
ter, and  nobler,  and  more  loving  creature.  His  history  and 
his  writings  abound  in  proofs  of  this.* 

In  this  view  of  Saul's  character  after  the  heart  of  stone  had 
been  exchanged  for  a  heart  of  flesh,  there  is  nothing  more 
worthy  of  notice  than  that  consummate  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  no  less  than  that  tenderness  of  heart,  which  led  him 
to  encourage  in  his  young  converts  every  opening  promise  of 
goodness.  He  carefully  cultivates  every  favorable  symptom. 
He  is  "  gentle  among  them,  as  a  nurse  cherish eth  her  children." 
He  does  not  expect  every  thing  at  once ;  he  does  not  exact 
that  a  beginner  in  the  ways  of  religion  should  start  into  in- 
stantaneous perfection.  He  does  not  think  all  is  lost  if  an  er- 
ror is  committed ;  he  does  not  abandon  hope  if  some  less  hap- 
py converts  are  slow  in  their  progress.  He  protects  their  bud- 
ding graces ;  he  fences  his  young  plants  till  they  have  had 
time  to  take  root.  If  he  rejoices  that  the  hardy  are  more 
flourishing,  he  is  glad  that  the  less  vigorous  are  nevertheless 
alive. 

There  is  scarcely  a  more  lovely  part  of  his  character,  though 
it  may  be  less  obvious  to  unobservant  eyes,  as  being  more 
tender  than  great,  than  the  gentleness  exhibited  to  the  Corin- 
thian converts  in  his  second  Epistle  to  them.  He  is  anxious, 
before  he  appears  among  them  again,  that  every  breach  may 
be  healed,  and  every  painful  feeling  done  away,  which  his 
sharp  reproof  of  an  offending  individual  may  have  excited. 
He  would  not  have  the  joy  of  their  meeting  overshadowed 
by  any  remaining  cloud.  Want  of  consideration  is  an  error 
into  which  even  good  men  sometimes  fall.     They  do  not  al- 

*  The  instances  in  proof  of  this  have  been  collected  by  Dr.  Stephen 
Addington,  in  his  Life  of  Paul  the  Apostle.  London,  1784;  by  Miss 
Hannah  More,  in  her  Essay  on  the  Character  and  Writings  of  St.  Paid  : 
and  by  the  Rev.  A.  Monod,  in  his  Saint  Paid.  London,  1853.  Little 
more,  therefore,  has  here  been  necessary  than  to  reproduce  their  in- 
stances in  a  combined  and  condensed  shape. 


174  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK — SUNDAY. 

ways  enter  intimately  into  the  circumstances  and  character  of 
the  persons  they  address.  But  Saul  writes  to  his  friends  like 
one  who  felt,  because  he  partook  of  the  same  fallen  humanity 
with  them ;  like  one  who  was  familiar  with  the  infirmities  of 
our  common  nature ;  who  could  allow  for  doubt  and  distrust, 
misapprehension  and  error ;  who  expected  inconsistency,  and 
was  not  deterred  by  perverseness ;  who  bore  with  failure 
where  it  was  not  sinful,  and  who  could  reprove  obduracy 
without  being  disappointed  at  meeting  with  it.  The  apostle's 
tenderness  for  his  converts  was,  doubtless,  increased  by  the 
remembrance  of  his  own  errors, — a  remembrance  which  left 
a  compassionate  feeling  on  his  softened  heart.  It  never,  how- 
ever, led  him  to  be  guilty  of  that  mischievous  compassion  of 
preferring  the  ease  of  his  friends  to  their  safety.  He  never 
soothed  where  it  was  his  duty  to  reprove.  He  knew  that  in- 
tegrity was  the  truest  tenderness ;  that  a  harsh  truth  which 
might  tend  to  save  the  soul,  had  more  humanity  than  a  pallia- 
tive which  might  endanger  it. 

The  intimate  feeling  of  his  own  imperfections  is  everywhere 
visible.  It  makes  him  more  than  once  press  on  his  friends 
the  Christian  duty  of  bearing  one  another's  burdens,  intimat- 
ing how  necessary  this  principle  of  mutual  kindness  was,  as 
they  themselves  had  so  much  to  call  forth  the  forbearance  of 
others ;  and  in  his  usual  strain  of  referring  to  first  principles, 
he  does  not  forget  to  remind  them  that  this  was  fulfilling 
the  law  of  Christ. 

In  his  most  severe  animadversions  this  apostle  does  not 
speak  of  any  with  hopeless  harshness.  He  seldom  treats  the 
bad  as  irreclaimable,  but  generally  contrives  to  leave  them  some 
degree  of  credit.  He  seems  to  feel  that  by  stripping  erring 
men  of  every  vestige  of  character,  he  should  strip  them  also 
of  every  glimmering  of  hope,  of  every  incitement  to  reforma- 
tion. Thus,  although  Timothy  is  exhorted  to  have  no  com- 
pany with  him  who  obeys  not  the  word  of  Paul's  epistle,  the 
prohibition  is  only  in  order  "  that  he  may  be  ashamed ;"  yet 
is  he  not  to  be  accounted  as  an  enemy,  but  admonished  as  a 
brother. 


THE    HEART    OF    FLESH.  175 

His  sorrows  and  joys,  both  of  which  were  intense,  never 
seem  to  have  arisen  from  anything  which  related  meiely  to 
himself.  His  own  happiness  or  distress  were  little  influenced 
by  personal  considerations.  The  varying  condition,  the  alter- 
nate improvement  or  declension  of  his  converts  alone,  could 
sensibly  raise  or  depress  his  feelings.  With  what  anguish  of 
spirit  does  he  mourn  over  some,  "  of  whom  I  have  told  you 
often,  and  now  tell  you  weeping,  that  they  are  the  enemies  of 
the  cross  of  Christ."  Mark,  again,  his  self-renouncing  joy, — 
"  We  are  glad  when  we  are  weak  and  ye  are  strong."  Again, 
"  Let  me  rejoice  in  the  day  of  Christ,  that  I  have  not  lived  in 
vain,  neither  labored  in  vain." 

Self-denial  in  all  things  lay  at  the  root  of  his  regenerated 
character.  We  find  him  willing  to  forego  the  most  innocent 
and  lawful  gratifications,  rather  than  grieve  or  offend  the  weak. 
"If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  flesh  while 
the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  offend  " — be 
an  occasion  either  of  his  offending,  or  of  his  being  offended, 
for  the  original  word  may  perhaps  be  taken  in  either  of  those 
senses. 

It  may  likewise  be  remarked,  that  although  he  neither 
courted  the  smiles,  nor  shunned  the  frowns  of  men,  by  any 
servile  or  dishonorable  concessions,  yet  he  considered  it  as  the 
part  of  wisdom  and  duty,  to  accommodate  himself  in  every- 
thing consistent  with  truth  and  a  supreme  regard  to  the  will 
of  God,  to  the  weaknesses  and  even  the  prejudices  of  those 
with  whom  he  had  to  do.  But  this  was  merely  to  secure  op- 
portunities of  serving  them,  manifesting  hereby  that  true  phi- 
lanthropy which  is  the  genuine  spirit  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

His  soul,  now  become  truly  Christian,  was  sufficiently  en- 
larged to  comprehend  all  mankind ;  and  although  (or  rather 
because)  himself  a  follower  of  Jesus  on  principles  never  to  be 
shaken,  he  felt  most  strongly  and  tenderly  for  those  he  had 
left  behind,  entangled  in  the  fetters  of  Jewish  prejudices. 
Language — even  his  own  nervous  and  comprehensive  lan- 
guage— could  not  express  in  terms  sufficiently  strong  and  ten- 
der, the  affectionate  good  wishes  of  his  soul  on  their  behalf. 


176  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

"  Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is, 
that  they  might  be  saved."     Rom.  x.  1. 

But  the  benevolence  of  the  apostle  was  not  confined  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  country  or  friends.  He  felt  great 
tenderness  and  compassion  for  the  unbelieving  in  general; 
he  poured  out  his  soul  in  earnest  expostulations  with  them, 
and  in  the  most  earnest  prayers  to  the  Father  of  mercies  and 
God  of  all  grace  in  their  behalf.  Truly,  concerning  such, 
could  Saul  say  with  David,  "  Rivers  of  water  run  down  mine 
eyes,  because  they  keep  not  thy  law  ;"  for  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians  (iii.  18)  we  find  this  parallel  declaration, — "Many 
walk  of  whom  I  have  told  you  often,  and  now  tell  you  even 
weeping,  that  they  are  the  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ." 

But  while  the  zeal  of  the  apostle  was  thus  tenderly  solicitous 
for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our  entire  communities,  this  did 
not  absorb  his  warm  attachment  to  individuals ;  nor  did  his 
ardent  regard  for  their  highest  interests  lead  him  to  overlook 
their  personal  concerns. 

We  might  produce  in  proof  of  this  the  large  number  of 
brethren  and  sisters  who  are  mentioned  by  name  at  the  end 
of  most  of  his  epistles,  and  are  greeted  one  by  one  with  the 
most  delicate  manifestations  of  Christian  and  faithful  love. 
There  is  a  Priscilla  and  an  Aquila,  his  fellow  helpers  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  have  exposed  their  lives 
for  his  ;  there  is  an  Andronicus  and  a  Junia,  his  relations  and 
companions  in  prison,  who  were  in  Christ  before  him ;  there 
is  a  Persis,  much  beloved  by  him,  for  she  had  labored  much 
in  the  Lord  ;  and  a  Rufus,  chosen  in  the  Lord,  whose  mother, 
he  says,  is  mine.  From  this  point  of  view,  these  chapters  of 
salutations,  which  are  often  passed  over  as  of  no  general  in- 
terest, offer  us  a  study  most  attracting  and  instructive,  by  en- 
abling us  to  penetrate  into  the  apostle's  private  life,  and  into 
his  dearest  relationships.  But  this  is  not  all.  Among  the 
numerous  Christians  who  surround  him,  there  are  some  for 
whom  he  reserves  a  special  affection — Luke,  the  historian,  so 
faithful  and  affectionate  ;  Barnabas,  his  fellow  laborer,  his  love 
for  whom  had  not  been  cooled  by  a  temporary  alienation ; 


THE    REST    OF   THE    CHURCH.  177 

Philemon,  to  whom  he  writes  with  a  liveliness  of  affection 
which  the  pen  of  the  most  loving  woman  could  not  surpass ; 
Epaphroditus,  whom  God  had  restored  to  health  in  answer  to 
his  prayers,  lest  "  he  should  have  sorrow  upon  sorrow ;" 
Epaphras,  Tychicus,  and  above  all  the  others,  Timothy  and 
Titus, — Timothy,  than  his  second  epistle  to  whom  no  mother 
ever  wrote  a  letter  to  her  son  more  full  of  tender  solicitude, — 
Titus,  "  his  own  son  in  the  faith,"  of  whom  he  writes  that 
when  he  came  to  Troas,  "  I  had  no  rest  in  my  spirit  because 
I  found  not  Titus,  my  brother." 

In  short,  all  that  Saul  said,  and  all  that  he  did,  from  the 
day  of  his  conversion  to  that  of  his  death,  was  one  striking 
and  beautiful  comment  upon  his  own  declaration  to  the  Philip- 
pians, — "  God  is  my  witness,  how  earnestly  I  long  after  you 
>ll  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ." 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE  REST  OF  THE  CHURCH ACTS  IX.  31. 

The  history  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  now  leaves  Saul 
for  a  time,  and  Peter  again  becomes  conspicuous. 

We  are  told,  first,  that  "  then  had  the  churches  rest  through- 
out all  Judea,  and  Galilee,  and  Samaria ;  and  walking  in  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were 
multiplied." 

That  the  churches  had  rest,  implies  that  the  Jews  had  ceased 
to  persecute.  One  would  like  to  know  how  this  result  was 
produced,  seeing  that  assuredly  the  offence  of  the  cross  had 
not  ceased,  and  the  doctrine  of  a  crucified  Messiah  had  not 
become  less  obnoxious  to  the  Jews  than  it  had  been  before. 

History  is  silent  on  the  subject ;  but  history  does  show  that 
circumstances  about  this  time  occurred,  which  threw  the  Jew 
ish  mind  into  a  ferment  of  such  passionate  excitement,  as  could 
leave  no  thought  for  other  matters. 

8* 


178 


FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK MONDAY. 


The  considerations  advanced  a  few  evenings  back,*  go  to 
show  that  the  condition  of  affairs  which  Saul  found  exist- 
ing at  Damascus,  as  being  then 
under  the  power  of  the  Arabian 
king,  Aretas,  arose  soon  after  the 
accession  of  the  Emperor  Cali- 
gula. Allowing  that  this  state 
of  affairs  may  have  arisen  some 
time  prior  to  his  arrival  there 
from  Arabia,  that  he  made  some 
stay  in  Damascus,  and  that  "  the 
rest"  is  historically  placed  at 
some  time  subsequent  to  his  re- 
tirement from  Jerusalem,  we  arrive  at  a  period  in  Caligula's 
reign  which,  as  nearly  as  can  be  made  out  of  the  absence  of 
distinct  dates,  coincides  with  the  circumstances  to  which  we 
shall  now  call  attention. 

There  were  frequent  differences,  on  questions  of  privilege, 
between  the  Greek  and  Jewish  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  in 
Egypt ;  and  at  this  time  the  quarrel  rose  so  high,  that  both 
parties  sent  three  deputies  to  Rome,  to  obtain  the  decision  of 
the  Emperor.  At  the  head  of  the  Jewish  deputation  was  the 
celebrated  Philo,  who  has  left  an  account  of  this  affair ;  and 
the  leader  on  the  other  side  was  the  grammarian  Apion,  a  man 
of  great  literary  reputation  in  his  day,  but  now  chiefly  remem- 
bered by  the  answer  of  Josephus  (which  we  still  possess)  to  a 
book  he  wrote  against  the  Jews,  whom  he  intensely  hated. 
Overstepping  the  proper  limits  of  his  commission,  Apion  un- 
scrupulously endeavored  to  excite  in  the  mind  of  the  weak 
and  wicked  emperor  the  same  hatred  of  the  Jews  which  filled 
his  own.  To  this  end  he  wilily  accused  the  Jews  of  refusing 
to  the  emperor  the  divine  honors  which  he  required,  and  which 
all  his  other  subjects  rendered  to  him.  Other  emperors  had 
claimed  the  same  honors  ;  but  out  of  regard  to  what  they  re- 
garded as  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  they  had  not  insisted 
upon  the  reception  by  them  of  the  images  of  the  deified  em- 
*  Fourty-Fourth  Week — Tuesday. 


THE    REST    OF    THE    CHURCH.  1*79 

peror.  But  when  the  matter  was  thus  pointedly  brought  to 
the  notice  of  Caligula,  he  became,  as  Apion  had  foreseen,  so 
highly  incensed,  that  he  offered  nothing  but  insults  to  the 
Jewish  delegates,  and  soon  ordered  them  to  return  home  with- 
out attending  to  their  business. 

The  matter  did  not  end  here.  Caligula  sent  Petronius  to 
supersede  Vitellius  in  the  government  of  Syria,  and  gave  him 
orders  to  place  his  statue  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  and,  in 
case  of  resistance,  to  compel  submission  by  force  of  arms.  On 
his  arrival  in  Syria,  Petronius  soon  learned  that  he  had  no 
easy  task  before  him ;  and  he  therefore  assembled  such  a  force 
as  he  thought  sufficient  to  deter  or  put  down  resistance.  With 
this  force  he  wintered  at  Ptolemais,  and,  while  there,  many 
thousands  of  the  principal  Jews  came  to  him,  and  implored 
him  to  desist  from  his  purpose,  declaring  that  they  would  sooner 
die  than  see  the  sanctuary  of  God  thus  profaned.  Petronius 
had  by  this  time  manifestly  acquired  a  disrelish  for  his  task ; 
but  he  pleaded  the  absolute  orders  of  the  emperor,  which  he 
dared  not  and  could  not  disobey.  To  this  they  retorted,  that 
there  was  One  greater  than  the  emperor,  whom  they  also 
dared  not  disobey ;  and  that,  confident  of  His  approval,  if 
they  suffered  in  a  just  cause,  they  would  sooner  die  than  sub- 
mit to  such  a  violation  of  their  laws. 

Petronius  began  to  perceive  by  this  that  the  mission  with 
which  he  was  charged  could  not  be  executed  without  much 
bloodshed ;  and  therefore  he  crossed  the  country  to  Tiberias, 
to  learn  what  the  nature  of  the  public  feeling  was  in  that 
quarter.  He  was  not  long  left  in  doubt ;  for  multitudes  of 
the  Jews  repaired  to  him  there  also,  and  still  more  fervently 
repeated  the  same  protestations  which  he  had  heard  at  Ptole- 
mais. The  governor  pointed  to  the  impotency  of  any  war- 
like resistance  on  their  part  against  the  force  under  his  com- 
mand. They  replied  that  they  by  no  means  purposed  to 
make  war  with  Caesar ;  but  that  still  they  would  sooner  die 
than  see  their  sacred  laws  transgressed ;  and  thereupon  they 
cast  themselves  upon  the  ground,  and  stretched  forth  their 
throats  as  if  to  meet  the  knife.     These  proceedings  continued 


180  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

forty  days,  during  which  time  the  utmost  agitation  prevailed 
throughout  the  country — so  that,  in  the  most  critical  season 
of  the  year,  the  urgent  labors  of  the  field  were  neglected,  and 
the  agricultural  prospects  of  the  year  thereby  brought  into 
great  peril. 

Petronius  was  even  more  perplexed  by  this  passive  resist- 
ance than  by  the  hints  of  men  which  he  had  elsewhere  heard. 
At  this  juncture  several  very  eminent  Jews  arrived  at  Tiberias, 
among  whom  was  Hilkias,  surnamed  the  great,  and  Aristobu- 
lus,  the  brother  of  King  Agrippa,  who  was  then  at  Rome,  and 
known  to  be  high  in  the  favor  of  the  emperor.  These  person- 
ages urged  Petronius  to  suspend  his  measure  till  he  obtained 
further  orders  from  Rome,  writing  to  the  emperor  an  account 
of  these  proceedings,  representing  the  firm  resolution  of  the 
people,  who  were,  nevertheless,  averse  to  any  hostilities  with  the 
Roman  forces ;  showing  the  impolicy  of  driving  them  to  de- 
spair ;  and  pointing  out  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  and 
the  danger  to  the  revenue,  which  must  result  from  the  neglect 
of  tillage.  To  this  step  Petronius  was  at  length  brought  to 
consent,  though  fully  alive  to  the  danger  he  incurred. 

About  this  time,  however,  king  Agrippa,  at  Rome,  gave  to 
the  emperor  a  great  and  costly  supper,  comprising  everything 
suited  to  the  imperial  tastes,  which  he  had  studied  well.  Cali- 
gula was  ineffably  pleased ;  and  when  he  had  well  filled  him- 
self with  wine,  and  was  in  a  tipsy  good  humor,  he  expressed 
his  high  satisfaction  at  the  magnificent  testimonial  of  affection 
which  his  old  friend  had  now  given  ;  and  as  it  became  not  the 
emperor  to  be  outdone  in  such  proofs  of  regard,  whatever 
might  yet  be  needful  to  Agrippa's  contentment  and  happiness 
(for  the  emperor  had  already  been  very  bountiful  to  him)  was 
freely  at  his  service,  to  the  utmost  extent  of  his  imperial 
master's  power. 

This  was  the  critical  moment,  and  Caligula  fully  expected, 
that  Agrippa  would  ask  for  some  large  country  in  addition  to 
the  territories  he  had  already  received,  or  perhaps  for  the 
revenues  of  some  flourishing  cities.  Agrippa  begged  to  be 
excused,  as  having  already  received  from  his  imperial  friend's 


THE  REST  OF  THE  CHURCH.  181 

munificence  far  more  than  his  ambition  ever  craved.  This 
parade  of  disinterested  regard,  of  course,  made  the  emperor 
the  more  eager  to  serve  him ;  and  at  length  Agrippa  ven- 
tured— at  the  manifest  peril  of  all  his  favor,  and  even  of  his 
life — to  say,  that  nothing  could  be  so  acceptable  to  him,  he  de- 
sired no  other  favor,  but  that  the  emperor  should  withdraw 
the  orders  he  had  given  to  Petronius,  hinting  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  fact  of  this  indulgence  having  been  obtained 
through  his  intercession,  would  materially  promote  his  own 
popularity  among  his  future  subjects. 

Caligula,  though  taken  by  surprise,  was  struck  by  the  dis- 
interestedness of  Agrippa,  and  felt  some  respect  for  the  public 
spirit  which  it  indicated.  Besides,  he  could  not  gracefully 
draw  back  from  his  word  at  such  a  time.  The  request  was 
therefore  granted,  and  orders  were  despatched  to  Petronius 
not  to  persist  in  establishing  the  emperor's  statue  in  the 
temple ;  but  that  if  he  had  already  done  so,  he  was  to  let  it 
remain.  This  despatch  crossed  that  from  Petronius;  and 
when  the  latter  arrived  Caligula  was  greatly  enraged.  He 
wrote  back,  accusing  Petronius  of  having  been  bribed  by  the 
Jews,  told  him  to  consider  himself  as  laboring  under  his  sov- 
ereign's deepest  displeasure,  and  threatening  to  make  him  an 
example  to  that  and  future  ages,  of  the  punishment  due  to 
those  who  dared  to  palter  with  their  obedience  to  the  imperial 
commands. 

But  before  Petronius  received  this  dreadful  missive,  which 
would  probably  have  induced  him,  after  the  Roman  fashion, 
to  have  become  his  own  executioner,  intelligence  reached  him 
that  the  writer  was  no  more. 

With  the  death  of  Caius  Caligula  the  whole  matter  fell  to 
the  ground.  It  will  be  observed,  indeed,  that  in  the  midst  of 
his  wrath  with  Petronius,  he  did  not  retract  the  concession  he 
had  granted  to  Agrippa,  of  whose  services  to  them  on  this 
occasion  the  Jews  always  afterwards  retained  the  most  grate- 
ful recollection. 

This  matter  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Jews  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  and  left  them  little  leisure  to  bestow  their  at- 


182  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

tention  on  the  affairs  of  the  Christians ;  and  when  the  storm 
had  blown  over,  the  interrupted  habit  of  persecuting  attention 
was  not  immediately  resumed.  Thus  the  churches  found  an 
interval  of  rest,  until  the  time  when  that  Agrippa,  who  has 
just  been  mentioned,  and  whom  Luke  calls  "Herod  the  king," 
commenced  a  new  persecution. 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

TABITHA. ACTS  IX.  32-43. 

During  the  season  of  tranquility  which  the  church  now 
enjoyed — not,  as  some  say,  through  the  diminished  hatred  of 
the  Jewish  rulers  to  the  Christians,  but  through  the  abatement 
of  the  activity  of  their  opposition,  under  the  influence  of  still 
more  exciting  claims  upon  their  attention — Peter  found  the 
opportunity  suitable  for  re-visiting  the  churches  which  had 
been  established  beyond  the  limits  of  the  home  district. 

In  the  course  of  this  journey  he  came  to  the  town  of  Lydda, 
at  that  time  regarded  as  a  village,  though  equal  to  many 
towns  in  extent  and  population.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
called  Lud,  but  is  not  mentioned  in  connection  with  any  cir- 
cumstances of  historical  interest.  It  was  destroyed  some  years 
after  this  by  the  Romans,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Jewish 
war ;  but  it  was  soon  after  rebuilt,  and  became  known  by  the 
Greek  name  of  Diospolis.  The  foreign  names  which  the 
Romans  were  fond  of  imposing,  very  rarely,  however,  took 
root  in  the  East,  and  Lydda  subsists  to  this  day  under  its  most 
ancient  name  of  Lud.  It  is  now  a  considerable  village  of 
small  houses,  with  nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  other  Moslem 
villages  except  the  ruins  of  the  celebrated  old  church  of  St. 
George,  the  western  and  more  perfect  part  of  which  has  been 
built  into  a  large  mosque.  The  St.  George  of  this  church  is 
our  St.  George — that  is,  the  dragon-slaying  St.  George,  who 
is  believed  to  have  been  born  at  this  place,  and  whose  remains 


TABITHA.  183 

were  removed  thither  from  the  place  of  his  martyrdom,  and 
this  church  built  over  them,  by  the  emperor  Justinian. 

On  his  arrival  at  Lydda,  Peter  had  his  attention  called  to 
the  case  of  a  person  named  ^Eneas.  From  the  name,  which 
is  Greek,  it  is  usually  supposed  that  this  person  was  a  Hellen- 
ist ;  and  Grotius  has  deduced  the  probability  that  his  Jewish 
name  was  Hillel.  Both  points  may  be  doubtful ;  but  the  turn 
of  the  entire  passage,  in  the  original  text,  seems  to  make  it 
clear  that  he  was  a  Christian.  He  had  been  bedridden  eight 
years  with  a  paralytic  affection.  The  Gospel  had  therefore 
been  brought  to  his  bedside,  had  found  him  on  the  bed  of  lan- 
guishing, and  had  not  met  him  abroad  in  the  synagogues  and 
the  highways.  And,  doubtless,  it  had  since  then  made  sweet 
and  tolerable  to  him,  as  it  alone  can,  the  weariness  of  his  sick- 
bed. On  beholding  this  afflicted  saint,  Peter,  feeling  within 
himself  that  the  Divine  power  would  be  exercised  for  his  re- 
covery, said,  "^Eneas,  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  is  pleased  to  heal 
thee.*  Arise  and  make  thy  bed !"  And  forthwith  he  left 
that  bed  on  which  he  had  so  long  lain,  and  proceeded  "  to 
make  "  his  bed. 

Some  points  in  this  claim  our  attention,  as  compared  with 
similar  miracles  of  our  Lord.  The  characteristic  differences 
between  original  and  delegated  authority — the  different  char- 
acters of  the  servant  and  the  Son,  of  the  creature  and  the  God, 
are  as  Doddridge  remarks,  everywhere  apparent.  The  same 
writer  (quoting  the  remarks  of  Chrysostom  indirectly  through 
Clavius),  points  out,  that  "  no  faith  on  the  part  of  the  person 
healed  was  required ;  and  the  like  is  observable  in  many  cases, 
where  persons,  perhaps  ignorant  of  Christ,  were  surprised  with 
an  unexpected  cure.  But  where  persons  themselves  petitioned 
for  a  cure,  a  declaration  of  their  faith  was  often  required,  that 
none  might  be  encouraged  to  try  experiments  out  of  curiosity, 
in  a  manner  which  would  have  been  very  indecent,  and  tend  • 
ing  to  many  bad  consequences." 

The  analogous  miracles  of  our  Lord  were  performed  upon 
persons  who  were  away  from  their  houses  in  the  open  air 
*  This  is  the  precise  force  of  the  expressions  employed. 


184  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

These  he  ordered  to  take  up  their  beds,  and  carry  them  home, 
that  the  strength  and  vigor  which  they  manifested  in  doing 
this  might  attest  the  completeness  of  their  cure.  But  here 
Peter  heals  a  man  in  his  own  house,  and  whom  he  cannot 
therefore  order  to  take  up  his  bed  and  walk  home  with  it. 
He  consequently  tells  him  to  make  his  bed ;  but  how  this 
could  afford  the  same  evidence  of  recovered  strength,  has 
somewhat  perplexed  the  commentators.  A  better  knowledge 
of  Eastern  customs  would  have  solved  the  difficulty.  The  Ori 
entals  do  not  leave  their  beds  laid  out  in  the  places  where 
they  sleep,  except  when  actually  in  use.  By  day  they  are 
removed  and  stowed  away  in  places  reserved  for  or  appropri- 
ated to  them.  When,  therefore,  Peter  tells  ^Eneas  to  make  his 
bed,  he  in  effect  tells  him  to  clear  away  his  bedding — to  fold 
it  up,  and  take  it,  together  with  the  bed  itself,  from  the  room, 
to  place  it  in  the  usual  repository.  This  necessarily  involved 
the  lifting  and  carrying  the  bed,  though  for  a  shorter  distance. 
To  understand  it  of  merely  re-adjusting  the  bed  and  bedding 
in  the  place  where  it  stood,  which  is  what  we  mean  by  "  mak- 
ing "a  bed,  deprives  the  passage  of  the  confirmatory  force 
which  properly  belongs  to  it. 

^Eneas  seems  to  have  been  a  person  well  known  ;  and  this 
miracle  of  healing  by  the  apostle  excited  a  strong  sensation 
through  all  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  fertile  plain  of  Sha- 
ron, and  was,  in  the  Lord's  hand,  made  effectual  for  the  con- 
version of  many  souls  to  Christ. 

While  Peter  remained  at  Lydda,  the  church  at  Joppa,  six 
miles  off,  was  plunged  into  much  affliction  by  the  loss  of  one 
of  its  most  useful  members,  in  the  person  of  a  wealthy  lady 
named  Tabitha,  "  which  by  interpretation  is  called  Dorcas." 
That  is,  Dorcas  being  the  same  in  Greek  as  Tabitha  in  Syr- 
iac — both  meaning  an  antelope.  Names  derived  from  animals 
were  not  unusual  among  the  Hebrews.*  Thus  we  have  Rach- 
el, a  lamb ;  and  the  particular  name  of  Tabitha  was  not  un- 
common in  this  age.     Tabi  is  the  masculine  form  of  it ;  and 

*  See  Morning  Series,  Twenty-Third  Week,  Friday. 


TABITHA.  185 

the  Mishna  informs  us  that  Rabban  Gamaliel  had  a  man-serv- 
ant called  Tabi,  and  a  woman-servant  called  Tabitha ;  nay, 
that  all  his  female  servants  bore  the  latter  name,  and  all  his 
men-  servants  the  former — which,  if  true,  must  have  been  a 
serious  inconvenience. 

This  lady,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  widow,  had  made  her 
life  a  blessing  to  the  people ;  for  "  she  was  full  of  good  works 
and  alms  deeds  that  she  did."  This  was  particularly  shown 
in  providing  clothing  for  the  poor  disciples ;  and  she  seems  to 
have  employed  her  own  hands,  and  those  probably  of  others, 
in  making  such  articles  at  her  own  home — keeping  up  a  store 
from  which  those  that  needed  could  be  supplied.  The  loss  of 
a  woman  whose  faith  in  Christ  thus  beneficently  operated  in 
loving  solicitude  for  the  poor  members  of  his  flock,  could  not 
but  be  severely  felt  in  Joppa ;  and  as  it  was  known  that  Peter 
was  at  Lydda,  a  message  was  sent  imploring  him  to  hasten 
over  to  Joppa.  With  what  object  this  message  was  sent,  it  is 
not  easy  to  say.  Considering  that  no  apostle  had  yet  raised 
the  dead,  it  has  been  thought  that  they  could  hardly  have  ex- 
pected this ;  and  that  they  merely  wished  for  the  comfort  of 
his  presence  in  their  affliction.  We  think  it  likely,  however, 
that  those  who  sent,  did  entertain  some  vague  hope  that  Peter 
might  be  enabled  to  restore  their  friend  to  life — especially  con- 
sidering the  strong  impression  which  his  recent  miracle  of 
healing  had  made  upon  their  minds.  Their  request  that 
"  he  would  not  delay,"  seems  clearly  to  intimate  a  wish  that 
he  should  arrive  before  the  interment,  which,  as  we  know, 
takes  place  very  soon  after  death  in  the  East. 

Meanwhile  the  body  was  prepared  for  burial.  It  was 
washed,  and  removed  to  an  upper  chamber.  This  is  the  only 
time  that  the  washing  of  dead  bodies  for  burial  is  mentioned 
in  Scripture.  This  custom  has  been  a  very  general  one 
among  all  nations,  ancient  and  modern  ;  and  instead  of  mul- 
tiplying examples  of  tliat  which  needs  no  proof,  we  may  men- 
tion how  this  matter  is  now  managed  among  the  Jews,  in  con- 
formity with  their  ancient  usages. 

The  time  of  interment  is  fixed  by  the  officers  of  the  syna- 


186  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

gogue,  and  must  be,  if  possible,  within  twenty-four  hours  after 
death. 

The  first  care  is  to  provide  the  needful  shrouds  or  envelopes 
for  the  corpse,  and  these  being  ready,  the  body  is  washed.  It 
is  laid  upon  a  board,  which  is  called  the  "  purifying  board," 
with  the  feet  towards  the  door.  A  clean  sheet  is  laid  over  it, 
while  the  under  linen  garment  of  the  deceased,  after  being 
rent  through  from  the  breast  downward,  is  removed.  The 
corpse  is  then  washed  with  lukewarm  water,  the  quantity  of 
which  must  not  be  less  than  nine  cabbin,  equal  to  as  many 
English  quarts.  The  water  is  poured  upon  the  sheet  with 
which  the  corpse  is  cleansed,  it  being  forbidden  to  touch  a  dead 
body  with  the  bare  hand.  The  washing  must  commence 
with  the  head,  and  so  downward  to  the  feet.  When  the  whole 
body  has  thus  been  washed,  it  is  laid  on  its  back,  and  the 
nails  of  the  hands  and  feet  are  properly  cleansed  with  an  in- 
strument made  for  the  purpose.  During  these  operations,  as 
well  as  in  those  that  follow,  no  part  of  the  corpse  is  left  un- 
covered. The  "  washing  "  being  thus  finished,  the  corpse  has 
now  to  pass  under  the  ceremony  called  Taharah,  or  "purifica- 
tion." The  operators  first  wash  their  hands  with  clean  water, 
and  then  wipe  them  dry  with  a  towel.  Four  persons  now 
hold  a  sheet  over  the  corpse.  The  wet  sheet  is  then  withdrawn, 
and  nine  cabbin  of  clean  cold  water  are  poured  upon  the  body, 
commencing  as  before  from  the  head  downward.  Previously 
to  pouring  this  water  of  purification,  they  are  to  repeat  as 
follows : — "  And  he  poured  of  the  anointing  oil  upon  Aaron's 

head,  and  anointed  him  to  sanctify  him Then  will 

I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean :  from 
all  your  filthiness  and  from  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you. 
And  ye  shall  be  holy ;  for  I,  the  Lord  your  God,  am  holy. — 
Taharah!  Taharah!  Taharah!" 

The  corpse  is  next  well  dried  with  a  clean  sheet,  A  cap  is 
then  put  upon  the  head,  with  the  words  : — "  And  he  put  the 
mitre  upon  his  head ;"  and  when  the  body  is  placed  in  the 
coffin,  the  words  are  uttered  : — "  May  he  go  to  his  appointed 
place  in  peace  1" 


TABITHA.  187 

The  purification  board  is  then  carefully  cleansed  and  dried  ; 
and  the  water  spilt  upon  the  ground  must  also  be  well  died  up. 
It  is  likewise  provided  that  the  water  used  for  the  purification 
shall  not  be  cast  where  human  beings  might  pass  over  it,  but 
that  it  shall  be  carefully  poured  out  in  some  secluded  place.* 

These  facts  are  interesting,  though  it  may  be  hard  to  say 
how  many  of  the  particular  usages,  beyond  the  general  prac- 
tice of  washing  the  dead,  may  equally  belong  to  scriptural 
times.  Perhaps  most  of  them,  as  there  is  usually,  in  such 
matters,  less  change  from  lapse  of  time  than  in  any  others. 
In  the  existing  Jewish  practices  as  described,  nothing  is  more 
worthy  of  notice  than  the  scrupulous  delicacy  with  which  a 
necessarily  unpleasant  operation  is  performed ;  and,  indeed, 
whatever  else  may  be  said  of  the  Jews,  it  is  certain  that  no 
nation  surpass,  or  even  come  near  them  (as  a  people),  in  per- 
sonal modesty,  both  as  it  respects  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Peter  at  once  responded  to  the  application  to  him,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Joppa  with  the  messenger.  On  his  arrival  he  was 
taken  to  the  upper  chamber  in  which  lay  the  body  of  the  de- 
parted, and  here  "  all  the  widows  stood  by  him  weeping,  and 
showing  him  the  coats  and  garments  which  Dorcas  made  while 
she  was  with  them."  These  widows  were  doubtless  such  as 
had  been  particularly  benefited  by  her  kindness,  and  who  now 
lamented  their  lost  benefactress;  and  here  we  find  another 
corroboration  of  the  prominent  attention  paid  to  the  wants  of 
widows  in  the  ancient  church.  It  may  be  that  these  widows 
showed  the  clothes  they  wore  at  the  time,  and  which  they 
owed  to  the  bounty  of  Dorcas,  rather  than  the  stores  of  cloth- 
ing she  had  prepared  for  the  poor.  Peter,  however,  put  them 
all  forth  gently  from  the  room,  as  he  had  seen  his  Master  do, 
when  He  raised  the  daughter  of  Jairus  from  the  dead.  Being 
thus  left  alone  with  the  corpse,  he  kneeled  down  and  prayed — 
as  Elisha  had  done  of  old  (2  Kings  iv.  33),  and  perhaps  be- 
cause this  was  a  great  and  strange  matter  in  which  he  was 
not  yet  assured  of  the  mind  of  God.  But  he  arose  from 
prayer  satisfied,  and  turning  to  the  corpse  said,  "  Tabitha, 
*  Sec  "The  British  -Tews"  by  the  Rev.  John  Mills.    London.    1853. 


188  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

arise !"  At  these  words  she  opened  her  eyes ;  and  when  she 
saw  Peter,  whom  she  had  probably  known  in  his  former  visit 
to  this  quarter,  she  sat  up.  But  her  movements  being  hin- 
dered by  the  habiliments  of  death,  he  gave  her  his  hand  to 
help  her  to  her  feet;  and  then  calling  in  "the  saints  and 
widows,"  who  were  anxiously  awaiting  the  result,  he  presented 
to  them  alive  and  well  the  friend  whose  loss  they  had  so  griev- 
ously deplored. 

A  miracle  like  this,  one  so  well  known  and  so  highly  es- 
teemed as  Dorcas,  could  not  fail  to  make  an  impression,  even 
stronger  than  that  which  the  miracle  performed  upon  iEneas 
had  made  on  the  minds  of  the  people.  It  became  a  theme 
of  common  discourse  throughout  allthe  region  of  Joppa ;  and 
the  immediate  result  was,  that  "  many  believed  in  the  Lord." 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

peter's  VISION. ACTS  x.  9-23 

After  the  great  miracle  of  raising  Tabitha  from  the  dead, 
Peter  did  not  return  to  Lydda,  but  remained  at  Joppa,  his 
summons  to  which  place  had  perhaps  only  slightly  anticipated 
his  intention  of  proceeding  thither. 

It  is  probable  that  among  the  disciples  at  Joppa  there  were 
persons  of  good  worldly  standing  and  consideration,  any  of 
whom  would  have  felt  honored  in  receiving  the  apostle  under 
their  roof.  But  he  chose  to  take  up  his  abode  with  "one 
Simon  a  tanner,"  of  whom  we  subsequently  learn  that  his 
house  was  by  the  sea-side,  that  is,  beyond  the  town,  for  the 
trade  of  a  tanner  was  one  which  the  Jews  would  not  allow  to 
be  exercised  within  any  of  their  cities.  This  wras  from  a 
primary  regard  to  sanitary  considerations — which,  among  this 
people,  always  took  the  form  of  pronouncing  a  thing,  a  trade, 
a  practice,  to  be  "  unclean,"  and  which  far  more  effectually 
realized  the  objects  in  view  than  all  the  rules  of  all  the  "  boards 


peter's  vision.  189 

of  health"  in  the  world.  The  trade  of  a  tanner  was  for  some 
reason  or  other  regarded  as  mean  and  low  among  the  ancients 
generally  ;  and  by  the  Jews  in  particular  was  held  in  great 
contempt.  In  the  Talmud  we  read,  "  Woe  unto  him  whose 
trade  is  a  tanner !"  Being  aware  of  this,  we  may  find  some 
probability  in  the  conjecture  of  some  ancient  commentators, 
that  the  trade  of  Peter's  host  is  here  so  pointedly  specified,  in 
order  that  it  might  appear  that  the  apostle  did  not  feel  him- 
self elevated  by  the  dignity  of  the  late  miracle  above  mean 
persons  and  things. 

It  was  during  his  stay  with  Simon,  at  his  hou£e  by  the  sea- 
side, that  Peter  one  day  withdrew  for  secluded  devotion  to  the 
house-top  at  the  noon-tide  hour  of  prayer.  He  then  became 
exceedingly  hungry,  and  would  gladly  have  taken  some  food, 
but  the  mid-day  meal,  being  the  first  considerable  meal  of  the 
day,  was  not  yet  ready.  While  in  this  state  he  fell  into  a  kind 
of  ecstasy  or  trance,  in  which,  in  mental  vision,  he  beheld  a 
vast  sheet  of  open  work,  probably  like  a  net,  let  down  by  the 
four  corners  from  heaven.  Observing  this  more  narrowly,  he 
perceived  that  it  contained  all  kinds  of  living  creatures — ani- 
mals tame  and  wild,  birds,  and  even  "  creeping  things."  A 
voice  was  then  heard  :  "  Rise,  Peter ;  kill  and  eat !"  But  to 
this,  with  the  prompt  readiness  of  one  whose  mind  was  still 
replete  with  notions  derived  from  the  ceremonial  law,  Peter 
objected :  "  Not  so,  Lord ;  for  I  have  never  eaten  anything 
that  is  common  or  unclean."  The  call  implied  that  he  might 
use  for  food  any  of  the  creatures  presented  to  his  view ;  and 
his  response  expressed  his  reluctance,  his  moral  inability,  to  eat 
that  which  the  law  of  Moses  pronounced  unclean. 

To  this  the  voice  replied, — "  What  God  hath  cleansed,  that 
call  not  thou  common."  This — whether  the  entire  vision,  or 
the  voice  only,  is  not  certain — was  repeated  three  times,  either 
to  impress  it  more  strongly  upon  Peter's  mind,  or  to  confirm 
in  the  strongest  manner  the  truth  and  certainty  of  the  truth 
thus  conveyed.  The  reader  will  recollect  other  instances  in 
which  certainty  is  indicated  by  repetition,  and  especially  by 
threefold  repetition.     Thus,  in  Gen.  xli.  32,  Pharaoh's  dreams 


190  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

are  expressly  declared,  to  have  been  repeated,  in  order  to  indi- 
cate that  the  Lord  would  certainly  and  shortly  bring  the  things 
to  pass. 

But  what  things  were  in  this  case  denoted  by  the  vision  ? 
This  was  the  question  on  which  Peter  pondered.  He  seems 
to  have  been  in  doubt  whether  by  this  vision  God  meant  only 
to  indicate  that  every  distinction  of  meats  was  abolished  by 
the  Christian  religion,  and  therewith,  perhaps,  the  ceremonial 
law,  of  which  practically  that  distinction  formed  a  most  prom- 
inent part ;  or  whether  a  yet  deeper  meaning  was  not  con- 
cealed under  it — namely,  that  the  Gentiles,  who  did  not  ob- 
serve this  distinction  of  meats,  and  were  on  that  and  other 
grounds  accounted  impure  by  the  Jews,  were  to  be  so  regard- 
ed no  longer,  nor  their  society  to  be  any  longer  shunned,  but 
the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  were  to  be  freely  preached  tc 
them. 

His  doubts  on  this  point  were  soon  resolved ;  and  he  speed 
ily  learned  that  this  vision  had  been  sent  to  him  in  order  tG 
determine  and  guide  his  conduct,  under  circumstances  which 
might  otherwise  have  perplexed  him  greatly. 

While  he  was  still  considering  this  matter,  three  strangers, 
one  of  them  a  Roman  soldier,  appeared  at  the  tanner's  gate, 
inquiring  whether  "  Simon,  whose  surname  is  Peter  "  (to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  the  master  of  the  house,  who  also  bore  the 
name  of  Simon)  "  lodged  there."  The  house  was  probably 
not  high,  so  that  Peter's  attention  may  have  been  attracted  by 
the  knocking  and  the  enquiries  at  the  gate.  And  then,  to 
free  him  from  doubt,  the  Spirit  deigned  to  acquaint  him  that 
the  men  who  sought  him  had  been  sent  by  Himself,  and  that 
he  was  to  go  with  them  without  doubt  or  fear.  On  this  Pe- 
ter went  down  to  the  strangers,  and  informing  them  that  he 
was  the  man  for  whom  they  enquired,  asked  what  they  want' 
ed  with  him. 

In  reply,  they  entered  into  a  recital,  from  which  he  gather 
ed  that  they  were  servants  of  a  centurion  named  Cornelius,  at 
Cesarea ;  and  that  their  master  had  sent  them  to  request  his 
presence  at  that  city,  as  he  had  been  "  warned  from  God  by 


CORNELIUS.  191 

a  holy  angel "  to  send  for  him,  and  to  hear  words  of  him. 
We  know  more  of  what  had  passed  than  this,  but  we  less 
suppose  that  this  is  a  concise  statement  of  the  historian  to 
avoid  a  repetition  of  the  full  narrative,  than  simply  just  so 
much  as  Cornelius  had  told  his  messengers  to  say — not  to 
them  entering  upon  the  full  explanations  which  he  meant 
himself  to  give  to  the  apostle  on  his  arrival. 

Cesar ea  was  fully  thirty-five  miles  from  Joppa,  and  the  men 
who  had  travelled  that  day  and  half,  needed  some  rest  and  re- 
freshment. Peter  therefore  did  not  think  of  setting  out  with 
them  at  once,  but,  purposing  to  go  with  them  the  next  morn- 
ing, he  meanwhile  invited  them  into  the  house,  and  provided 
them  with  food  and  a  resting  place.  The  conversation  of  the 
strangers  during  the  rest  of  the  day,  probably  gave  ground 
for  the  impression,  that  the  occasion  was  likely  to  prove  one 
of  considerable  importance ;  and  Peter  himself  had  good  rea- 
sons for  entertaining  that  conviction.  It  was  probably,  there- 
fore, in  consequence  of  this  that,  when  he  departed  the  next 
morning,  he  was  accompanied  by  six  of  the  disciples  at  Joppa 
— not  only,  of  their  own  accord,  to  do  him  honor,  but  possibly 
at  his  own  request,  to  be  his  witnesses  and  vouchers  under  the 
new,  difficult,  and  deeply-responsible  circumstances,  in  which 
he  could  not  but  already  feel  that  he  was  likely  to  be  placed 
when  he  should  reach  Cesarea. 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

CORNELIUS. ACTS  X.  1,  2. 

Cornelius,  who  had  sent  to  Joppa  for  Peter,  is  described 
as  being  "  a  centurion  of  the  band  called  the  Italian  band,"  or 
cohort. 

Considerable  doubt  exists  as  to  what  is  here  meant  by  the 
"  Italian  band."  Some  writers  refer  it  to  the  Legio  Italica,  or 
Italica  prima,  so  often  mentioned  by  Tacitus ;  but  we  know 


192  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

from  Dion  Cassius  that  this  legion  was  raised  by  Nero ;  and, 
consequently,  that  it  was  not  in  existence  when  the  events 
narrated  by  Luke  took  place.  Nor  can  it  have  been  either  of 
the  other  two  Italian  legions  (Legiones  Italicse),  as  they  were 
raised  long  after  by  Marcus  Aurelius.  We  know  from  Jose- 
pbus,  that  the  Roman  troops  serving  in  Syria  and  Judea 
were  mainly  composed  of  levies  raised  on  the  spot.  We  learn, 
however,  that  there  were  volunteer  Italian  cohorts  serving  in 
Syria,  from  an  inscription  in  Grater,  cited  by  Mr.  Akkerman 
in  his  Numismatic  Illustrations  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
from  which  he  concludes  that  the  "  Italian  band "  was  most 
probably  a  cohort  serving  in  Syria,  and  quartered  at  Cesarea, 
composed  of  natives  of  Italy,  and  called  "  Italian "  to  distin- 
guish it  from  those  which  consisted  of  troops  raised  in  Syria. 
We  see  then  the  exact  historical  propriety  with  which  Luke 
uses  the  word  which  denotes  a  cohort  {anelqa),  instead  of  that 
expressing  a  legion,  which  would  have  been  improper. 

Cornelius  was  thus,  it  would  seem,  an  Italian,  and  doubtless, 
as  his  name  imports,  a  Roman.  That  name  would  lead  us  to 
conclude  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  great  Cornelia  gens,* 
which  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  among  the  Romans, 
and  produced  a  greater  number  of  illustrious  men  than  any 
other  house  in  Rome.  Tradition  assigns  this  Cornelius  to  one 
of  the  patrician  branches  of  this  house;  and,  accordingly, 
Julian  the  Apostate  names  Cornelius  as  one  of  the  few  persons 
of  distinction  who  embraced  Christianity.  This  is  not,  how- 
ever, certain ;  for  the  Cornelian  gens  had  plebeian  branches, 
and  the  name  eventually  became  very  common,  through  the 
step  taken  by  the  dictator  Sylla,  who  bestowed  the  Roman 
franchise  upon  10,000  slaves,  and  called  them  all  after  his  own 
name  "  Cornelii,"  that  he  might  always  have  a  large  number 
among  the  people  to  support  him. 

This  Cornelius  is  described  as  "  a  devout  man,  and  one  that 
feared  God  with  all  his  house,  who  gave  much  alms  to  the 

*  Gens.  Properly  a  collection  of  families  (the  great  families  patri- 
cian, but  including  usually  lesser  plebeian  families),  answering,  as  some 
say,  to  the  English  term  "  House,"  but  better  to  the  Highland  "  Clan." 


CORNELIUS.  193 

people,  and  prayed  to  God  always."  This  character  of  him 
has  raised  much  discussion  as  to  the  religious  position  of  Cor- 
nelius prior  to  his  interview  with  Peter.  From  the  considera- 
tions which  it  involves,  the  question  is  of  considerable  inter- 
est, and  it  is  entitled  to  attentive  consideration. 

There  are  two  leading  views  in  this  matter.  One,  that  the 
terms  employed  are  such  as  can  only  be  properly  used  with 
respect  to  one  who  was  a  proselyte  to  Judaism.  The  other, 
that  he  was  still  a  Gentile ;  for  that  the  transaction  loses  all 
its  peculiar  force  and  meaning  under  any  other  view  of  his 
position. 

But  it  may  be  proper  to  explain,  that  those  who  take  the 
former  view  of  the  case  lay  down  a  careful  distinction  between 
two  descriptions  of  proselytes,  concerning  which  we  learn 
nothing  from  the  Scriptures,  nor  even  from  the  early  Rabbin- 
ical authors,  but  only  from  those  of  the  later  class,  from  the 
twelfth  century  downwards.  These  speak  of  two  species  of 
proselytes — the  proselytes  of  righteousness  and  the  proselytes 
of  the  gate.  The  proselytes  of  righteousness  were  those  who, 
having  received  circumcision,  and  placed  themselves  under  all 
the  obligations  of  the  law  of  Moses,  had  consequently  passed 
over  completely  into  the  Jewish  church,  and  had  become  a>\ 
completely  members  of  it  as  those  who  were  not  of  the  seed 
of  Abraham  could  become.  The  proselytes  of  the  gate,  we 
are  told,  were  those  who,  having  renounced  idolatry,  and  wor- 
shipping only  the  true  God,  submitted  to  the  seven  (supposed) 
precepts  of  Noah,  frequented  the  synagogues,  and  offered  sac- 
rifices at  the  temple  by  the  hands  of  the  priests  ;  but  not  hav- 
ing received  circumcision,  were  not  reckoned  as  belonging  to 
the  Jews. 

It  is  not  supposed,  by  any  writers,  that  Cornelius  could  have 
been  a  proselyte  of  righteousness ;  but  that  he  was  a  proselyte 
of  the  gate  is  an  opinion  which  has  had  many  and  very  able 
advocates. 

In  support  of  the  opinion  that  he  was  such  a  proselyte,  and 
not  a  mere  Gentile,  such  considerations  have  been  urged  as  we 
now  proceed  to  state. 

VOL.  iv.  9 


194  FORTY-FIFTH   WEEK — THURSDAY. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  urged  that  Cornelius  is  described  a3 
"  a  man  fearing  God,"  which  is  a  term  applied  elsewhere  to 
proselytes  of  the  gate,  and  applicable  to  them  only.  For  proof 
of  this  we  are  referred  to  the  16th,  26th,  and  43d  verses  of 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts.  Again,  Cornelius  offered 
up  his  prayers  at  the  hours  usual  among  the  Jews  (see  x.  3, 
30)  ;  and  that  he  had  read  the  Old  Testament  (doubtless  in 
the  Septuagint  version)  is  plain,  seeing  that  Peter,  in  demon- 
strating to  him  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  appealed  to  the 
prophecies.  He  had,  too,  conferred  many  benefits  on  the  people 
— that  is,  the  Jewish  people. 

These  reasons  seem  very  strong  till  the  other  side  is  heard ; 
and  what  the  other  side  alleges  is  this :  That  the  term  on 
which  so  much  stress  is  laid,  "  fearing  God,"  and  correspond- 
ing terms,  are  in  Scripture  applied  not  merely  to  proselytes, 
but  any  persons  studious  of  piety  and  filled  with  reverence  to- 
wards God.  See  examples  of  this  in  the  35th  verse  of  this 
chapter,  and  in  Luke  i.  50 ;  ii.  25 ;  Col.  iii.  22  ;  Rev.  xi.  18. 

It  is  furthermore  urged  on  this  side  that  Cornelius  is  ex- 
pressly called  by  Peter  (in  verse  28)  one  of  another  race  or 
nation,  with  whom  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  Jew,  as  such,  to 
associate,  while  there  was  certainly  nothing  in  the  law  or  in  cus- 
tom which  forbade  intercourse  with  proselytes.  Nay,  the  law 
of  Moses  permitted  to  foreigners  a  perpetual  abode  among  tha 
Jews,  on  condition  that  they  abandoned  practices  publicly  offen- 
sive to  the  latter,  namely,  that  they  renounced  idolatry,  and 
abstained  from  whatever  had  reference  thereto ;  as  from 
meat  which  had  been  offered  to  idols,  and  from  food  formed 
from  blood.*  And  further,  towards  such  foreigners  the  Israel- 
ites were  enjoined  to  conduct  themselves  with  friendliness,  to 
treat  them  as  fellow  countrymen,  and  to  love  them  as  them- 
selves.f  Hence  also  such  persons  were  permitted  free  access 
to  the  synagogues,^  and  familiar  intercourse  with  the  Jews.§ 
Now,  the  alleged  proselytes  of  the  gate  could  not  have  stood 
in  a  less  near  relation  to  Judaism  than  such  persons;  and  it 

*  Lev.  xvii.  10, 11,  13.  f  Lev.  xix.  33,  34. 

%  Acts  xiv.  1.  §  Luke  vii.  3. 


CORNELIUS.  196 

seems  therefore  very  certain  that  Peter  could  not  have  described 
one  who  was  a  proselyte  of  the  gate,  as  belonging  to  a  class 
with  whom  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  Jew  to  associate. 

To  this  it  may  be  added  that  had  Cornelius  already  been  a 
proselyte,  the  news  of  his  conversion  would  not  have  occa- 
sioned such  astonishment  to  the  Jewish  Christians  as  it  actually 
did,*  nor  would  "  those  who  were  of  the  circumcision"  have 
contended  so  much  with  Peter  on  his  account.f  Moreover, 
he  is  expressly  classed  among  Gentiles  by  James  ;J  and  also  by 
Peter  himself,  when  claiming  the  honor  of  having  first  preached 
the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles.§ 

On  these  grounds  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  conviction  that 
Cornelius  was  not  a  proselyte  to  Judaism.  "We  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  Jewish  proselytes  had  not  before  this  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity  ;  and  it  is  certainly,  as  the  first  fruits  of 
the  Gentiles,  as  standing  distinct  from  Judaism,  that  the  con- 
version of  Cornelius  acquired  all  its  importance  and  signif- 
icance. 

It  is  to  be  observed  also  that  the  distinction  of  proselytes, 
and  the  assumption  that  Cornelius  was  a  proselyte  of  the  gate, 
rest  on  no  solid  foundation.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any 
such  distinction  existed,  or  that  "  proselytes  of  the  gate"  were 
known  in  the  time  of  the  apostles.  It  has  the  aspect  of  later 
Judaism ;  and  is  not  mentioned  by  any  Jewish  writer  till  the 
twelfth  century,  nor  by  any  Christian  writer  till  the  14th. 

Taking,  then,  Cornelius  to  have  been,  not  a  proselyte  to 
Judaism,  but  a  Gentile,  he  appears  to  have  been  of  that  class 
of  persons  who  had  so  far  benefited  by  their  contact  with  the 
Jewish  people  as  to  become  convinced  that  theirs  was  the  true 
religion,  and  consequently  rendered  their  worship  to  the  true 
God,  were  more  or  less  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  in  many  instances  observed  several  Jewish 
customs,  as,  for  example,  their  hours  of  prayer,  or  anything 
else  not  involving  a  special  profession.  They  had  abandoned 
idolatry,  and  were  many  of  them  persuaded  of  the  sole  and 

*  Acts  x.  45.        f  Acta  xi.  2.        %  Acts  xv.  14.        §  Acta  xv.  7. 


/96  FORTr-FIFTH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

universal  sovereignty  of  the  Lord,  Jehovah ;  but  they  had  not 
embraced  the  Mosaic  law,  and  were  consequently  never  re- 
garded as  the  adopted  children  of  Judaism,  nor  is  the  name 
of  proselytes  ever  applied  to  them. 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE  VISION  OF  CORNELIUS — ACTS  X.  24-33. 

When  Peter  and  his  companions  reached  Cesarea,  about 
the  noon  of  the  day  after  their  departure  from  Joppa,  they 
were  at  once  conducted  to  the  house  of  the  centurion  ;  which 
the  apostle,  instructed  by  the  vision  with  which  he  had  been 
favored,  did  not  hesitate  to  enter,  though  it  was  a  Gentile's 
house.  As  he  entered,  the  centurion,  apprized,  if  only  by  the 
presence  of  his  messengers,  of  who  it  was  that  had  come,  cast 
his  body  to  the  earth  at  the  apostle's  feet,  in  token  of  the  pro- 
foundest  reverence  for  him.  But  Peter,  with  some  haste, 
raised  him  from  the  ground,  saying,  "  Stand  up  ;  for  I  also 
am  a  man." 

Why  did  Cornelius  do  this — and  why  did  Peter  forbid  it  ? 

This  is  not  clear  at  first  sight,  but  is  clear  enough  when  it 
comes  to  be  explained  that  the  word  "  worshipped  him,"  which 
is  applied  to  the  act  in  our  version,  does  not  of  itself  denote 
religious  homage,  to  which  its  actual  meaning  is  now  confined, 
but  denoted  as  often  civil  reverence.  Of  this  use  traces  remain 
in  the  term  "  worshipful,"  applied  to  magistrate  and  old  cor- 
porations ;  and  in  the  now  remarkable  phrase,  "  with  my  body 
I  thee  worship,"  in  the  marriage  service  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

In  fact,  the  kind  of  reverence,  homage,  or  "  worship,"  ren- 
dered by  the  utter  prostration  of  the  body  to  the  ground,  wa^» 
a  mark  of  profound  respect  rendered  by  the  Jews,  as  it  is 
still  by  various  Oriental  nations,  to  kings ;  and  not  only  to 
them,  but  to  other  persons  of  high  dignity.     It  would  there- 


THE    VISION    OF    CORNELIUS.  197 

fore  seem,  at  the  first  view,  harmless  of  the  significance  which 
our  different  western  habits  would 
ascribe  to  it,  and  which  Peter  seems 
to  have  somewhat  feared  that  it 
might  appear  to  bear.  But  although 
this  was  a  custom  of  the  Jews  them- 
selves, it  was  not  a  custom  of  the 

Romans,  who  never  thus  humbled  themselves  before  any 
human  being,  but  before  their  gods  only.  It  was  on  this 
ground,  doubtless,  that  Peter  declined  it ;  either  as  fearing  that 
Cornelius,  as  a  Roman,  really  attached  something  more  than 
the  Oriental  significance  to  this  act,  or  as  apprehensive  that  it 
might,  however  intended,  be  misunderstood  by  those  who 
heard  of  it,  in  case  he  suffered  it  to  pass  without  remark. 
Considering  the  character  already  given  of  Cornelius,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  suppose  that  he  had  any  intention  of  rendering  to 
Peter  the  "  worship"  due  to  God  only.  Nor  would  it  have 
been  much  otherwise  if,  as  some  imagine,  the  centurion  took 
the  apostle  for  an  angel ;  for  then  also  it  would  have  been 
scarcely  less  improper.  Still  it  is  possible,  from  Peter's  re- 
minding him  that  he  also  was  a  man,  that  Cornelius  was 
struck  with  such  reverential  awe  at  the  presence  of  one  whom 
he  knew  to  be  a  legate  sent  by  God  expressly  to  him,  that,  in 
the  flurry  of  his  spirits,  he  could  not  at  the  moment  remember 
to  preserve  the  due  distinction  between  the  honor  to  be  ren- 
dered to  the  Sender  and  to  him  who  was  sent.  It  is,  however, 
quite  sufficient  to  suppose,  that  Cornelius,  knowing  that  the 
customs  of  the  East  allowed  of  such  reverential  homage  being 
shown  from  man  to  man,  adopted  it  as  the  most  adequate  ex- 
pression of  his  feelings,  and  which  Peter,  as  a  Jew,  would 
readily  understand ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  apostle 
very  judiciously  declined  this  mark  of  respect,  knowing,  as  he 
did,  that  it  was  an  act  of  religious  worship  among  the  Romans 
themselves,  and  that  his  acceptance  of  it  might  lead  to  evil. 

On  entering  the  reception-room,  Peter  found  himself  in  the 
presence  of  a  number  of  the  centurion's  relations  and  friends, 
whom,  expecting  the  Apostle's  visit  at  this  time,  he  had  as- 


198  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

sembleel  together,  that  they  might  partake  of  the  advantages 
he  expected  to  derive  from  it.  We  may  conceive  how  anx- 
iously the  centurion  had  remained  with  these  friends  awaiting 
this  arrival,  and  how  eagerly  he  started  from  them  to  meet 
Peter  at  the  door,  when  he  heard  that  he  was  actually  come. 
Finding  himself  thus  singularly  situated  in  the  midst  of  a 
Gentile  company,  Peter  thought  it  proper  to  explain  how  it 
was  that,  contrary  to  all  Jewish  ideas  and  practices,  he  thus 
appeared  among  them.  God,  he  said,  had  shown  him  (in  the 
vision),  that  he  was  not  to  account  any  men  "  common  or  un- 
clean." Under  the  conviction  thus  impressed,  he  had  come, 
without  hesitation,  when  sent  for ;  and  now  that  he  was  come, 
he  desired  to  know  for  what  purpose  he  had  been  called.  He 
knew  already  in  a  general  way ;  but  he  wished  to  be  more 
fully  and  particularly  informed  by  the  person  chiefly  concerned ; 
and  if  he  had  fully  known  these  particulars  himself,  he  might 
have  wished  his  attesting  companions  to  hear  an  authentic 
statement  from  the  centurion's  own  lips. 

Cornelius  began  by  saying,  "  Four  days  ago,  I  was  fasting 
until  this  hour."  By  this  he  means  that  four  days  ago  he  had 
been  fasting  until  the  same  hour  of  the  day  as  that  at  which 
he  was  speaking,  namely,  until  the.  ninth  hour  (as  he  pres- 
ently explains),  or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  ;  and  not,  as 
some  had  fancied,  that  he  had  fasted  from  the  time  of  the 
vision  to  the  then  present  hour. 

Then,  at  the  ninth  hour,  being  one  of  the  three  principal 
Jewish  hours  of  prayer,  he  was  praying  in  his  house,  when 
suddenly  "  a  man  in  bright  clothing"  stood  before  him,  and 
called  him  by  his  name,  assuring  him  that  his  prayer  was 
heard,  and  that  his  "  alms  were  held  in  remembrance  before 
God."  What  his  prayer  was  we  are  not  told ;  but  the  answer 
vouchsafed  to  it  clearly  shows  that  its  purport  must  have  been 
to  supplicate  for  more  light  to  his  feet — to  implore  that  he 
might  be  guided  into  all  truth.  Such  prayer  was  never  made 
in  vain  ;  and  in  this  case  it  was  most  signally  answered.  The 
angel  himself  had  no  commission  to  impart  that  light,  for  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel  has  not  been  given  to  angels.     The 


THE    VISION    OF    CORNELIUS.  199 

office  of  the  angel  here  was  to  give  the  authenticating  assur- 
ance of  a  message  from  heaven,  to  the  informatiou,  that  by 
sending  to  Joppa  for  Peter,  and  receiving  his  instructions,  the 
light  he  so  earnestly  desired  would  be  obtained.  Cornelius 
added,  that  it  was  on  this  authority  he  had  sent  for  the  apostle  ; 
and  now  that  he  was  come,  he  himself,  and  those  there  pres- 
ent with  him,  stood  ready  to  receive  with  respect  and  attention 
all  things  that  had  been  commanded  him  of  God.  By  this 
we  seem  to  gather  that  Cornelius  supposed  Peter  to  have  been 
charged  with  a  special  message  to  deliver  to  him — an  impress- 
ion likely  to  be  strengthened  by  the  .intimation  which  the 
apostle  had  let  fall,  that  he  also  had  received  instructions  from 
God  in  connection  with  this  case.  It  soon,  however,  appeared 
that  Peter  had  but  one  and  the  same  Gospel  message  to  de- 
liver to  Cornelius  and  to  every  other  sinner  who  had  been 
brought  to  feel  his  need  of  a  Saviour. 

Having  now  passed  through  the  circumstances  of  the  two 
visions — that  of  Peter,  and  that  of  Cornelius, — it  may  be  well 
to  direct  our  attention  to  Paley's  excellent  remark,  that  the 
circumstances  of  the  two  visions  are  such  as  take  them  entirely 
out  of  momentary  miracles,  or  such  as  may  be  accounted  for 
by  false  perceptions.  They  belong  to  that  mixed  class  in 
which,  although  the  miracle  itself  is  sudden,  some  circumstance 
combined  with  it  is  permanent.  Saul's  conversion  is  another 
marked  example  of  this  ;  and  of  both  instances  together,  Paley 
observes :  "  Of  this  kind  is  the  history  of  St.  Paul's  conversion. 
The  sudden  light  and  sound,  the  vision  and  vo^e,  upon  the 
road  to  Damascus,  were  momentary :  but  Paul's  blindness  for 
three  days,  in  consequence  of  what  had  happened ;  the  com- 
munication made  to  Ananias  in  another  place,  and  by  a  vision 
independent  of  the  former,  and  finding  him  in  the  condition 
described ;  and  Paul's  recovery  of  sight  upon  Ananias'  laying 
his  hands  upon  him, — are  circumstances  which  take  the  trans- 
action, and  the  principal  miracle,  as  included  in  it,  entirely 
out  of  the  case  of  momentary  miracles,  or  of  such  as  may  be 
accounted  for  by  false  perceptions.  Exactly  the  same  thing 
may  be  observed  of  Peter's  vision  preparatory  to  the  call  of 


200  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

Cornelius,  and  of  its  connection  with  what  was  imparted  in  a 
distant  place  to  Cornelius  himself,  and  with  the  message  de- 
spatched by  Cornelius  to  Peter.  The  vision  might  be  a  dream ; 
the  message  could  not.  Either  communication,  taken  separ- 
ately, might  be  a  delusion ;  the  concurrence  of  the  two  was 
impossible  to  happen  without  a  supernatural  cause."* 


FORTY-FIFTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

CONVERSION  OF  CORNELIUS. ACTS  X.  34-XI.  18. 

When  Cornelius  had  finished  his  recital,  Peter,  at  some 
length,  expressed  the  conviction,  which  he  had  been  so  slow 
to  realize,  and  which  it  had  needed  a  special  communication 
from  heaven  to  impress  upon  him,  that  the  Gentiles  were  not 
any  longer  to  be  regarded  as  unclean,  and  that  the  offer  of  the 
Gospel  was  open  to  them,  as  well  as  to  the  Jews.  He  then 
proceeded  to  explain  what  that  Gospel  was,  showing  that  all 
things  that  were  written  in  the  books  of  the  prophets  were 
accomplished  in  Jesus — of  whom  Cornelius  and  his  friends 
had  doubtless  heard,  for  the  Gospel  had  already  been  preached 
by  Philip  in  Csesarea — "  who  went  about  doing  good,"  who 
died  a  shameful  death  upon  "  the  tree  "  for  man's  redemption, 
who  rose  again  from  the  dead,  and  who  should  hereafter  judge 
the  world  ,JIe  had  died  to  save,  and  that  now  peace  was 
preached,  now  remission  of  sins  was  offered  to  such  as  believed 
in  his  name. 

While  Peter  was  yet  speaking,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  upon 
Cornelius  and  his  friends,  and  the  same  miraculous  manifesta- 
tions of  this  fact  followed  as  had  been  witnessed  on  the  great 
day  of  Pentecost.  Indeed,  Peter  himself,  on  a  subsequent  oc- 
casion, in  describing- this  event  to  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem, 
compared  these  two  manifestations — declaring  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  descended  on  this  occasion  "  as  upon  us  at  the  be- 
*  Evidences  of  Christianity,  Proposition  ii.,  Chapter  1. 


CONVERSION    OF    CORNELIUS.  201 

ginning."  It  has  hence  not  unreasonably  been  conceived,  that 
there  may  in  this  case  have  been  even  some  appearance  of 
light  or  flame,  as  in  the  former  instance.  And,  indeed,  the 
greatness  of  the  occasion — being  the  first  practical  opening  of 
the  church  to  the  Gentiles — might  both  require  and  explain 
such  a  manifestation.  It  is  clear,  at  all  events,  that  nothing  like 
this  had  occurred  since  the  great  Pentecostal  effusion  of  the 
Spirit.  Many  had,  since  then,  received  the  extraordinary  gifts 
of  the  Spirit,  but  none  in  this  manner.  Such  gifts  had  been 
bestowed  after  baptism,  and  upon  the  imposition  of  the  apos- 
tles' hands.  But  here  it  was  direct,  and  signal,  and  even  before 
baptism ;  as  distinct  and  plenary  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
What  course  Peter  himself  may  have  taken,  had  not  this 
sign  been  given,  it  may  be  hard  to  say.  We  should  suppose, 
from  the  tenor  of  his  discourse,  that  he  would  have  admitted 
them  to  baptism,  on  their  declaring  their  belief  in  the  Lord 
Jesus ;  and  it  is  only  his  subsequent  conduct  at  Antioch,  in 
reference  to  the  general  question,  that  leaves  the  matter  open 
to  any  doubt.  Our  own  impression  is,  that  he  would  have 
admitted  these  Gentiles  to  the  Christian  church ;  but  that  he 
would  have  been  eventually  led  to  regard  the  case  as  excep- 
tional, and  as  affording  no  precedent  without  such  special  pre- 
vious warrant  as  he  had  in  this  instance  received.  But  al- 
though Peter  himself  may  have  been  prepared  to  receive  these 
Gentiles  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  it  is  doubtful  that  the 
"  brethren  "  who  had  accompanied  Peter  from  Joppa  would, 
and  it  was  nearly  certain  that  others  at  a  distance  would  not 
have  recognized  the  rightness  of  this  step,  unless  this  extraor- 
dinary sign  had  been  previously  given.  We  may,  therefore, 
conclude  that  it  was  given  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the 
will  of  God  indisputably  manifest,  and  of  showing  that  the 
course  which  Peter  took  was  not  only  in  accordance  with  it, 
but  was  absolutely  required  by  it.  It  was  calculated  to  pre- 
vent the  brethren  then  present  from  offering  any  such  opposi 
don  as  might  have  cast  a  damp  and  a  doubt  over  the  proceed 
ing ;  and  it  was  suited  to  stop  the  mouths  of  any  who  might 
afterwards  call  it  in  question. 

9* 


202  FORTY-FIFTH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

Accordingly,  no  sooner  did  Peter  witness  this,  and  hear 
these  Gentiles  "  speak  with  tongues  and  magnify  God,"  than 
he  exclaimed,  "  Can  any  man  forbid  water,  that  these  should 
not  be  baptized,  who  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as 
we  ?"  words,  the  very  cast  of  which  suggest  that  he  was  far 
from  certain  that  the  Jewish  prejudices  of  the  brethren  might 
aot  yet  be  opposed  to  this  step,  or,  at  least,  that  they  could 
only  have  been  overcome  by  such  a  manifestation  of  the  Di- 
vine purpose  as  this.  But  there  was  not,  and  could  not  be, 
any  answer  to  such  an  argument.  It  was  not  for  man  to 
withhold  the  baptism  of  water,  where  God  had  given  the 
baptism  of  the  Spirit.  Peter  therefore  "  commanded  them  to 
be  baptised  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  By  this  it  appears 
that  he  did  not  himself  baptize  them.  Indeed,  it  seems  that 
the  apostles  very  rarely  did  baptize  with  their  own  hands.* 
This  office  was,  on  the  present  occasion,  doubtless  discharged 
by  the  brethren  present  with  him  ;  and  he  might  prefer  to  use 
their  ministry,  that  by  this  means  the  expression  of  their  con 
currence  might  be  rendered  the  more  explicit. 

To  express  their  gratitude  to  Peter  for  the  great  benefits  he 
had  been  the  instrument  of  imparting  to  them,  as  well  as 
that  they  might  be  further  instructed  in  the  way  of  life,  Cor- 
nelius and  his  friends  implored  him  "  to  tarry  with  them  cer- 
tain days."  It  is  not  directly  stated  that  he  consented,  but  it 
appears  from  the  sequel  that  he  did,  and  was  doubtless  in- 
volved in  the  charge  afterwards  made  against  him,  of  "  going  in 
to  men  uncircumcised,  and  eating  with  them."  The  latter 
clause  must  refer  to  this  subsequent  intercourse,  for  Peter  did 
not  previously  eat  with  them.  By  this  he  showed  that,  at 
least  under  certain  circumstances,  he  considered  himself  loosed 
from  the  obligation  of  ritual  precepts.  It  does  not  seem,  how- 
ever, that  though  living  with  Gentiles  during  this  time,  he  par- 
took of  forbidden  meats,  for  of  this  there  is  not  a  word  in  the 
charge  afterwards  made  against  him,  in  reference  to  these 
transactions ;  nor  does  it,  indeed,  appear  that  any  converted 
Jews  did  so  till  after  their  final  dispersion. 
*  1  Cor.  i  14. 


A    MISTAKE.  203 

When  the  tidings  reached  Jerusalem  tharf;  the  Gentiles  had 
received  the  word  of  God,  the  feeling  excited  there  was  not 
generally  one  of  thankfulness  and  gratitude.  Feeling  on  this 
point  doubtless  varied  among  different  individuals  ;  but  there 
were  certainly  many  who  would  not  bring  themselves  to 
think  with  any  complacency  that  the  Gospel  was  not  the  ex- 
clusive privilege  of  the  Jews,  or  that  it  could  be  reached  but 
through  Judaism.  By  these  Peter  was  warmly  censured  for 
his  conduct,  when,  shortly  after,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem. 
Then,  in  his  own  vindication,  the  apostle  "  rehearsed  the  whole 
matter  from  the  beginning,  and  expounded  it  in  order  unto 
them."  At  the  close  of  his  plain  recital  of  the  circumstance, 
he  merely  added  this  cogent  and  unanswerable  remark — 
"  Forasmuch,  then,  as  God  g'ave  them  the  like  gift  as  He  did 
unto  us,  who  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  what  was  I 
that  I  could  withstand  God  ?"  To  the  credit  of  the  brethren 
at  Jerusalem,  they,  on  hearing  this,  not  only  "  held  their  peace," 
but "  glorified  God,"  for  the  extension  of  his  mercies  to  the 
Gentiles.  They  doubted  so  long  as  it  had  seemed  that  Peter 
had  acted  on  his  own  judgment  and  discretion  ;  but  when  he 
had  made  it  plainly  appear  that  the  will  of  God  had  been 
clearly  manifested,  then  they  abandoned  their  ground  of 
opposition,  and  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  the  conclusion  that 
"  then  hath  God  also  granted  unto  the  Gentiles  repentance 
unto  life." 


A  MISTAKE. ACTS.  XI.  34,  35. 

The  Apostle  Peter,  near  the  close  of  his  second  Epistle,  has 
a  very  interesting  allusion  to  the  Epistles  of  "  our  beloved 
brother  Paul."  In  them,  he  says,  there  "  are  some  things  hard 
to  be  understood,  which  they  that  are  unlearned  and  unstable 


•204  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other  Scriptures,  to  their  own  de- 
struction." It  is  open  to  conjecture  whether  Peter  may  not 
have  become  aware,  at  the  time  he  wrote  these  words,  as  we 
are  now  aware,  that  some  of  his  own  words — those  with  which 
he  opened  his  address  to  Cornelius — had  been  thus  perversely 
and  ruinously  "wrested"  from  their  proper  meaning.  The 
words  were — "  Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter 
of  persons,  but  in  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  Him,  and 
worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with  Him." 

It  has  been  urged  that  these  expressions  sanction  the  notion, 
that  there  are  in  every  nation  men  who,  "  fearing  God  and 
working  righteousness,"  are,  on  such  grounds  alone, "  accepted 
of  Him,"  or  entitled  to  salvation,  and  receiving  salvation ;  that 
any  one,  ignorant  or  regardless  of  the  revealed  covenants,  but 
believing  in  a  supreme  God  as  the  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth,  and  walking  righteously  according  to  the  measure  of 
his  light,  needs  nothing  more  for  salvation.     That 

a  He  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right," 

is  the  true  saving  doctrine. 

Without  pausing  further  npon  this  than  to  remark,  that  for 
a  life  to  be  in  the  right,  not  merely  correct  moral  conduct,  but 
correct  motives  and  principles  of  conduct  are  needed,  it  may 
be  asked :  What  need  was  there,  then,  to  Cornelius  for  the 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  which  Peter  came  to  teach  ?  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  Cornelius  "  feared  God  and  wrought  right- 
eousness," and  he,  therefore,  stands  before  us  a  most  advan- 
tageous example  of  those  who  are  supposed  to  be  thus  "  ac- 
cepted," on  grounds  apart  from  the  plan  of  redemption  which 
the  Gospel  declares.  Yet  that  even  he  was  not  then  in  the 
condition  of  one  "  accepted,"  in  the  sense  put  upon  the  text, 
is  clear  from  all  the  circumstances.  When  Peter  spoke  these 
words,  Cornelius  was  in  the  same  condition  as  when  the  angel 
had  spoken  to  him — he  had  not  been  converted,  he  had  not 
received  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  had  not  been  baptized,  the  Gospel 
had  not  even  been  preached  to  him  and  offered  to  his  accept 


A    MISTAKE.  205 

ance ;  and  that  he  was  not  then  "  accepted,"  so  as  to  be  in  a 
state  of  salvation,  is  made  manifest  by  the  words  of  the 
angel,  who,  after  directing  him  to  send  to  Joppa  for  Peter, 
adds,  "  who  shall  tell  thee  words,  whereby  thou  and  all  thy 
house  shall  be  saved"  He  was  to  be  saved,  then,  not  by  his 
previous  qualifications — and  these  were  higher  than  any  mere 
heathen  possessed,  seeing  that  the  God  he  "  feared"  was 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel — but  by  that  Gospel  which  Peter 
was  to  preach,  and  which  was  still  unpreached  by  hi  in,  when 
this  greatly  misconceived  declaration  fell  from  his  lips. 

These  considerations  alone  suffice  to  make  it  evident  that 
Peter's  declaration  is  not  thus  to  be  understood.  What  he 
did  mean,  a  little  consideration  of  the  position  in  which  the 
apostle  himself  stood,  and  of  the  great  matter  which  had 
been  occupying  his  own  mind,  will  make  sufficiently  clear. 
We  know  how  slow  he  and  the  other  apostles  had  been  to  re- 
ceive the  idea  that,  since  the  Lord's  death,  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham no  longer  possessed  exclusive  privileges,  and  that  now 
the  Gospel  of  salvation  was  as  open  to  the  Gentiles  as  to  them. 
It  was  a  fixed  belief  of  the  Jews  that  they  alone  had  any  in- 
terest in  the  blessings  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  which  were 
not  to  be  extended  to  any  other  kingdom  or  people,  who 
they  regarded  as  remedilessly  alien  from  God,  and  not  under 
his  care  or  protection.  When  our  Lord  had  prohibited  his 
disciples  to  preach  the  Gospel,  while  he  yet  lived,  to  any  but 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  He  had  appeared  to  give 
his  sanction  to  this  impression  ;  and,  as  Jews,  the  apostles  were 
more  likely  to  dwell  on  these  instances,  than  upon  the  intima- 
tions of  a  larger  commission  which  they  received  after  the 
resurrection.  In  this  view,  therefore,  God  had  seemed  "  a 
respecter  of  persons" — as  having  had  special  favor  and  regard 
to  the  Jews,  out  of  respect  to  his  covenant  with  Abraham 
their  father,  and  to  the  high  purposes  for  which  He  had  set 
them  apart  as  a  peculiar  people  among  the  nations.  This  view 
had  been  shaken  in  Peter's  mind  by  the  vision  of  the  great 
sheet,  and  the  application  of  that  vision  which  the  message 
from  Cornelius  had  compelled  him  to  make.     There  can  hardly 


206  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

be  any  doubt  that  all  the  day  after  the  arrival  cf  the  messen- 
gers, and  during  all  the  journey  from  Joppa  to  Csesarea,  this 
had  been  the  engrossing  subject  of  his  thought.  And  when, 
on  entering  the  house  of  Cornelius,  he  declared  that  God  had 
showed  him  that  he  was  not  to  regard  any  persons  as  common 
or  unclean,  his  meaning  was  just  the  same  as  in  the  words 
before  us — uttered  after  he  had  heard  the  recital  of  Cornelius. 
This  was,  that  he  was  now,  at  length,  enabled  to  perceive  that 
God  was  no  longer  a  respecter  of  persons,  as  he  had  aforetime 
been  ;  and  that  no  man  was  now  beheld  with  exclusive  regard 
because  he  was,  as  Abraham's  son,  under  a  peculiar  covenant 
with  God,  but  that  the  gates  of  life  were  now  thrown  widely 
open,  so  that  all,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  who  "  feared  God 
and  worked  righteousness,"  might  enter  in. 

But  what  of  these  apparent  qualifications  "  of  fearing  God 
and  working  righteousness"?  We  have  seen  that  they  are 
not  stated  as  conditions  of,  far  less  as  constituting  a  sufficient 
claim  to,  salvation.  To  fear  God  is  to  know  Him,  at  least,  as 
the  God'of  nature  and  providence ;  and  to  walk  in  that  fear 
is  to  acknowledge  his  practical  sovereignty  in  the  moral  gov- 
ernment of  the  world.  Paul  says : — "  He  that  cometh  to 
God,  must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of 
those  that  diligently  seek  Him."  Cornelius  had  certainly 
reached  this  state.  He  was,  therefore,  in  the  condition  of  one 
standing  ready  to  "come"  to  God  through  that  "Door" 
which  was  now  about  to  be  opened  to  him.  The  Lord  in  his 
high  grace  had  bestowed  upon  him  all  that  had  brought  him 
hitherto, — the  knowledge  and  fear  of  himself,  the  thirsting 
after  righteousness,  the  desire  to  know  Him  better  and  ap- 
proach Him  nearer — the  "  diligent  seeking  after  Him,"  which 
He  fails  not  to  "  reward  "  by  further  disclosures  of  himself,  as 
He  did  in  the  case  of  Cornelius.  Our  Lord  declared  that 
"  no  man  cometh  unto  me,  except  the  Father  who  hath  sent 
me  draw  him."  How  God  drew  Cornelius  we  have  seen.  We 
see  how  the  door  was  opened  to  let  the  stranger  in.  But  we 
must  consider  that  it  was  the  same  power  that  opened  the 
door  which  brought  him  to  the  door  that  was  to  be  opened. 


A    MISTAKE.  207 

God  honored  his  own  gifts.  And  when  we  see  a  man  thus, 
according  to  his  light,  "  diligently  seeking  "  after  God,  we  may- 
be sure  that  the  light  by  which  he  seeks  is  of  God's  bestowing, 
and  that  God  has  purposes  of  great  mercy  towards  him,  and 
that  he  will  in  due  time  be  rewarded  by  fuller  disclosures  of 
the  Divine  glory  in  Christ,  and  will  at  length  be  brought  fully 
into  the  fold.  A  man  must  go  before  he  comes  ;  and  if  we 
see  one  going  the  right  way,  we  conclude  that  he  will  be  care- 
fully guided,  and  will  "  come  "  at  last,  and  will  not  fail  of  ac- 
ceptance to  salvation  when  he  comes. 

Peter  in  the  case  before  us  plainly  means  this.  He  saw 
that  Cornelius  had  been  diligently  seeking  after  God.  He 
had  the  most  certain  evidence  that  he  was  a  subject  of  the 
Divine  grace ;  and  seeing  that  there  were  even  among  the 
Gentiles  men  so  favored,  he  naturally  concluded  that  it  must  be 
acceptable  to  God  that  the  Gospel  should  be  offered  to  them, 
which  Gospel  he  accordingly  proceeded  to  proclaim  and  offer. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  text  has  little  or  nothing  to 
do  with  the  question  which  has  been  fastened  upon  it — wheth- 
er the  man  who  walks  uprightly,  according  to  the  measure  of 
his  knowledge,  and  without  any  regard  to  revelation,  may  or 
may  not  be  saved. 

"  But  may  they  ?"  some  will  ask.  We  do  not  know.  It  is 
not  revealed.  But  we  do  know  that  besides  the  name  of  Jesus 
"  there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men 
whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  and  that  if  these  are  saved  it  will 
only  be  because  Christ  died.  Let  us  not  pry  too  curiously  into 
these  matters.  There  are  things  that  concern  us  much  more 
nearly.  Remember  our  Lord's  answer  to  those  who  asked 
"  Lord,  are  they  few  that  be  saved  ?" — "  Strive  to  enter  in  at 
the  strait  gate !" 

Another  thing  we  know — that  it  would  have  been  ill  with 
Cornelius  if,  after  the  gospel  of  the  atonement  had  been  offer- 
ed to  him,  he  had  rejected  it,  and  had  chosen  rather  to  rest 
his  hopes  upon  his  own  righteousness.  This  concerns  us  more 
nearly  ;  for  this  case,  and  not  the  other,  is  ours.  For  the  Gos- 
pel is  continually  preached  to  us ;  and  if  we  trample  it  under 


208  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — MONDAY. 

foot,  or  if  we  set  it  aside  with  decent  forms  of  respect,  as  a 
thing  we  do  not  want  and  can  do  very  well  without,  it  were 
better  for  us  that  we  had  never  been  born ;  for  we  are  then 
of  those  servants  who  knew  their  Lord's  will  and  did  it  not, 
and  who  therefore  shall  be  "  beaten  with  many  stripes." 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

CHRISTIANS. ACTS  XI.   19-26. 

As  the  result  of  the  persecution  in  which  Saul  had  taken 
so  active  a  part,  we  were  told  that  "  Therefore  they  [the  con- 
verts] that  were  scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preaching 
the  word."*  The  sacred  historian  having  now  concluded  his 
account  of  Saul's  conversion  and  of  Peter's  proceedings,  goes 
back  to  this  point,  and  proceeds  to  inform  us  that  some  of 
those  who  were  thus  scattered  abroad,  proceeded  even  so  far  as 
Cyrene  in  one  direction,  and  Cyprus  and  Antioch  in  another, 
but  that  they  nowhere  preached  the  gospel  to  any  but  Jews, 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  Jews  speaking  Greek,  or  Hellenists,  as 
such  are  called  in  Scripture.  So  this  went  on,  as  we  conceive 
is  to  be  understood,  until  after  the  conversion  of  Cornelius ; 
and  having  just  related  that  great  event,  Luke  proceeds  to 
state  that  this  great  fact  being  noised  abroad,  gave  a  mighty 
impulse  to  the  work  of  conversion  in  these  same  parts  ;  for 
some  of  the  Hellenists,  converted  by  those  Jerusalem  fugitives, 
no  longer  hesitated  to  offer  the  Gospel  to  the  Greeks  or  Gen- 
tiles. And  they  met  with  extraordinary  success,  "  for  a  great 
number  of  them  believed,  and  turned  to  the  Lord." 

This  seems  to  us  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  passage 
before  us.  But  it  may  be  right  to  explain  the  presence  of  a 
difficulty.  Those  to  whom  the  Gospel  was  preached  in  the 
first  instance  must  have  been  Hellenists,  or  Jews  living  in  Greek 
cities  and  speaking  the  Greek  language,  as  distinguished  from 
*  Acts  viii.  4. 


CHRISTIANS.  209 

Hellenes  or  Gentile  Greeks.  But  in  the  current  texts  those  to 
whom  the  gospel  is  preached  in  the  second  instance  are  de- 
scribed as  Hellenists  not  Hellenes.  Yet,  if  this  were  the  case, 
the  second  preaching  could  not  have  differed  from  the  first, 
and  the  Cyrenian  and  Cyprian  brethren  would  have  done  no 
more  than  had  already  been  done  by  the  brethren  from  Jeru- 
salem. It  is  hence  the  opinion  of  the  best  critics  and  com- 
mentators that  the  word  Hellenes,  not  Hellenists,  is  here  the 
right  reading,  especially  as  it  is  to  be  found  in  some  very  an- 
cient manuscripts,  versions,  and  Fathers ;  and  has  accordingly 
been  adopted  in  most  of  the  recent  critical  editions  of  the 
Greek  text.  But  this  being  the  case,  it  necessarily  follows 
that  some  more  considerable  interval  of  time  than  the  imme- 
diate connection  might  indicate,  occurred  between  the  first 
preaching  and  the  second,  because  the  second  preaching  being 
to  the  Gentiles,  it  must  have  been  subsequent  to  the  conversion 
of  Cornelius,  who  was,  as  we  know,  the  first  fruits  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. 

Indeed,  we  may  conceive  that  the  tidings  of  this  movement 
at  Antioch  might  not  have  been  received  at  Jerusalem  with 
much  favor,  had  not  the  church  there  been  already  satisfied 
on  this  point,  by  the  explanations  which  Peter  had  given  in 
connection  with  the  centurion's  conversion. 

Antioch  being  the  metropolis  of  Syria,  and  one  of  the 
three  *  greatest  cities  in  the  civilized  world,  the  intelligence 
that  the  Gospel  had  there  been  preached  with  signal  success 
to  the  Gentiles,  could  not  fail  to  awaken  much  attention  at 
Jerusalem ;  and  it  was  felt  desirable  that  the  interests  of  the 
cause  of  Christ,  in  a  station  so  eminent,  should  be  carefully 
watched,  guarded,  and  reported  on  by  some  persons  in  whom 
entire  confidence  could  be  placed.  It  does  not  seem  that  the 
Cyrenian  and  Cyprian  brethren  who  had  here  taken  the  in- 
itiative were  well  known,  if  at  all  known  to  the  church  at 
Jerusalem ;  and  such  entire  confidence  as  would  leave  room 
for  no  misgiving  as  to  their  proceedings,  may  not  at  so  great 
a  distance  have  been  entertained.  To  send  an  accredited 
*  Rome,  Alexandria,  Antioch. 


210  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — MONDAY. 

apostolical  agent  to  observe  and  aid  the  great  task  going  on 
at  that  place,  was  therefore  the  wisest  course  that  could  be 
taken.  Nor  was  the  choice  of  the  man  for  this  important 
mission  less  wise.  It  was  no  other  than  Barnabas — himself  a 
Hellenist,  a  Cyprian,  and  in  all  probability  well  acquainted 
with  Antioch — and  who,  more  than  all  that,  was  "  a  good  man, 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith."  Such  a  man  was  ex- 
actly fitted  for  the  highly  responsible  mission  confided  to  him. 

Barnabas  on  his  arrival  found  much  cause  to  approve  of 
what  the  Hellenist  brethren  had  done  in  preaching  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  he  was  well  satisfied  with  the  manner  and  spirit  in 
which  they  had  done  it,  and  the  results  which  had  flowed 
from  it.  It  was  a  good  work  that  had  been  done ;  and  he 
rejoiced  in  it,  and  labored  diligently  to  advance  it,  exhorting 
them  all  "  that  with  purpose  of  heart  they  should  cleave  to 
the  Lord." 

The  work  here  was  so  great  and  important  that  Barnabas 
soon  became  anxious  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  his  friend 
Saul,  whom  he  supposed  to  be  at  his  native  city  of  Tarsus, 
He  accordingly  proceeded  thither  in  search  of  him,  and  hav- 
ing at  length  found  him,  whether  there  or  not,  is  not  stated,  he 
brought  him  back  with  him  to  Antioch,  and  there  they  contin- 
ued laboring  together  in  the  Gospel  cause  for  a  whole  year. 

It  was  first,  during  this  year,  and  at  this  place,  that  the 
believers  in  Christ  came  to  be  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
"  Christians." 

It  has  been  much  questioned  by  whom  and  with  what  view 
this  name  was  given  or  assumed. 

It  does  not  seem  that  the  name  was  spontaneously  assumed 
by  the  disciples  themselves.  If  that  had  been  the  case,  we 
should  probably  have  met  with  it  frequently  m  the  remainder 
of  the  history,  as  well  as  in  the  writings  of  the  apostles.  But 
we  find  that  after,  as  before,  they  continued  to  be  styled  among 
themselves  "  believers,"  "  brethren,"  "  saints,"  "  disciples."  In 
the  Acts  the  term  "  Christian"  only  again  occurs  once  (xxvi. 
28),  where  king  Agrippa  says  "  Almost  thou  persuadest  me 
to  be  a  Christian."     And  in  the  Epistles  it  is  found  only  in 


CHRISTIANS.  211 

I  Peter  iv.,  and,  as  in  the  instance  just  cited,  seems  to  be  de- 
scribed as  used  or  applied  by  persons  not  themselves  professing 
the  religion.  "  If  ye  be  reproached  for  the  name  of  Christ, 
happy  are  ye,"  etc.,  (verse  14,)  and,  "yet  if  any  man  suffer 
as  a  Christian,  let  him  not  be  ashamed,"  (verse  16.)  This 
scanty  use  of  the  name  hardly  consists  with  the  notion  that  it 
was  assumed  by  the  disciples,  or  even  that  was  very  readily 
adopted  by  them.  Neither  was  it  likely  that  it  was  given 
them  by  the  Jews.  "  Christ"  means  the  same  as  "  Messiah  ;" 
and  the  main  point  at  issue  between  the  believers  and  the  Jews 
was  that  the  latter  did  not  recognize  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  and 
were,  therefore,  less  likely  to  call  his  followers  by  that  name 
than  almost  by  any  other.  Any  name  they  could  give  would 
assuredly  be  one  of  contempt ;  and  we  know  that  their  de- 
spiteful terms  for  the  disciples  were  "  Galileans,"  (Acts  ii.  *7,) 
and  "  Nazarenes,"  (Acts  xxiv.  5.)  The  probability,  therefore, 
remains  that  the  name  of  "  Christian"  was  first  given  to  the  dis- 
ciples by  the  Gentiles  of  Antioch.  This  becomes  the  more 
likely  when  we  consider  that  through  the  labors  of  the  two 
apostles  with  those  of  the  Hellenist  converts,  the  new  religion 
was  brought  much  under  the  notice  of  the  Gentiles  at  Antioch, 
who  would  soon  feel  the  want  of  a  name  by  which  to  indicate 
its  adherents  without  circumlocution.  They  would  scarcely 
be  able  to  appreciate  the  terms  used  among  the  believers  them- 
selves, being  rather  appellations  than  names ;  and  the  re- 
proachful terms  employed  by  the  Jews,  they  were  still  less 
likely  to  know  or  understand.  It  was  hence  natural  that 
they  should  devise  a  new  name,  and  what  designation  would 
inore  easily  occur  to  them  than  one  formed  from  the  name 
which  was  so  often  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  disciples — the 
name  too  of  one  who  was  understood  to  be  the  founder  of  the 
sect,  and  even  the  object  of  its  worship. 

It  seems  by  no  means  clear  that,  as  some  have  conceived, 
the  name  was  in  its  origin  despiteful,  like  the  names  of  Lol- 
lard, Puritan,  Quaker,  Methodist,  in  modern  times.  But  there 
is  no  doubt  that  it  eventually  became  so  in  the  mouths  of  the 
Gentiles,  when,  by  becoming  widely  spread,  it  attracted  more 


212  FORTY-SIXTH   WEEK — TUESDAY. 

attention,  and  caused  more  alarm,  from  the  manifest  hostility 
of  its  principles  to  the  prevalent  ideas,  usages,  and  systems  of 
heathendom. 

The  name  was,  however,  a  good  name,  and  there  was 
nothing  in  it  to  prevent  the  believers  from  effectually  accept- 
ing it  as  a  proper  designation  of  their  body. 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

SAUL  IN  CILICIA. ACTS  XI.  25,  26. 

The  course  of  the  Apostolical  history  having  brought  us 
into  the  region  to  which  Saul  had  retired,  and  introduced  him 
again  to  our  notice,  we  naturally  become  desirous  to  know 
where  he  had  been  and  what  he  had  been  doing  since  we 
parted  from  him  last. 

He  then  embarked  at  Csesarea  for  Tarsus ;  and  it  is  now  to 
Tarsus  that  Barnabas  goes  to  seek  Saul,  and  it  would  seem  to 
be  at  Tarsus  that  he  found  him.  This  would,  at  the  first 
view,  seem  to  imply  that  he  had  spent  all  the  intervening 
time  in  his  native  city  It  is  probable  that  he  did  make  some 
stay  in  Tarsus  on  his  first  arrival.  But  we  have  already  gath- 
ered from  one  of  his  own  intimations,  rightly  understood,  that 
he,  during  this  time,  labored  in  Cilicia  and  Syria — doubtless 
in  such  parts  of  Syria,  the  northern  parts,  as  bordered  on 
Cilicia.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  he  made  Tarsus  his 
head-quarters,  whence  he  made  missionary  excursions  in  va- 
rious directions  to  neighboring  places,  and  to  which  he  fre- 
quently returned.  With  this  agrees  the  brief  intimation  of 
the  proceedings  of  Barnabas.  He  went  to  Tarsus  not  to  fetch 
Saul  or  to  confer  with  him,  as  certain  of  finding  him  there, 
but  to  seek  him — as  expecting  that  he  should  either  find  him 
at  Tarsus,  or  learn  at  that  place  where  he  was.  So  it  is  not 
clear  that  he  did  find  Saul  there  on  his  arrival,  for  it  is  said 
that  "  when  he  had  found  him,"  implying  that  there  was  some 


SAUL   IN    CILICIA.  213 

delay  in  finding  him,  and  suggesting  that  Saul  was  in  fact  ab- 
sent when  Barnabas  reached  Tarsus,  but  that  he  there  ascer- 
tained where  he  was  likely  to  find,  and  either  followed  hirn  or 
sent  for  him  thither. 

Still,  as  thus  explained,  Tarsus  became  the  principal  resi- 
dence of  Saul  during  this  period ;  and  the  instructed  imagin- 
ation strives  to  realize  the  circumstances  of  his  return  to,  and 
sojourn  in,  his  native  place — a  man  greatly  changed.  Once 
more  we  behold  him  in  the  home  of  his  childhood — and  it  is 
the  last  time  that  we  are  distinctly  told  of  his  being  there. 
Now  at  length,  if  not  before,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  would 
come  into  active  intercourse  with  the  heathen  philosophers  of 
the  place.  In  his  last  residence  at  Tarsus,  a  few  years  before, 
he  was  a  Jew,  and  not  only  a  Jew  but  a  Pharisee,  and -he 
looked  on  the  Gentiles  around  him  as  outcasts  from  the  favor 
of  God.  Now  he  was  a  Christian,  and  not  only  a  Christian, 
but  conscious  of  his  mission  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 
Therefore  he  would  surely  meet  the  philosophers,  and  prepare 
to  argue  with  them  on  their  own  ground,  as  afterwards  in  the 
"  Market"  at  Athens  with  the  "  Epicureans"  and  the  "  Stoics."* 
Many  of  the  Stoics  of  Tarsus  were  men  of  celebrity  in  the 
Roman  Empire ;  and  now  among  these  eminent  sages,  some 
of  whom  had  been  tutors  of  emperors,  appeared  one  whose 
teaching  was  destined  to  survive  when  the  Stoic  philosophy 
should  have  perished,  and  whose  words  still  instruct  the  rulers 
of  every  civilized  nation.  How  far  Saul's  arguments  may 
have  had  any  success  in  these  quarters  we  cannot  even  guess : 
but  although  certain  salutary  impressions  eventually  product- 
ive of  good  may  have  been  made,  the  fact  that  the  first  fruits 
of  the  Gentiles  in  the  person  of  Cornelius  and  his  friends  had 
not  yet  probably  been  gathered  in  at  Caesarea,  forbids  us  to 
suppose  that  any  actual  conversions  among  the  Gentiles  at 
Tarsus  had  been  effected  during  at  least  the  early  part  of 
Saul's  residence  there.  And  although  he  may  not,  until  after 
that  great  event,  have  become  fully  aware  of  the  breadth  of 
his  own  commission  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  we  cannot 
♦Actsxvii.  17,  18. 


214  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

doubt  that  he  was,  during  this  time,  preparing,  whether  con- 
sciously or  not,  for  its  great  requirements  and  weighty  duties. 
Among  the  Jews  at  Tarsus — in  its  synagogues — we  cannot 
suppose  that  he  was  silent  or  unsuccessful.  In  his  own  family 
we  may  well  imagine  that  some  of  those  Christian  "  kindred" 
whose  names  are  handed  down  to  us* — possibly  his  sister,  t*»» 
playmate  of  his  childhood — and  his  sister's  son,f  who  after- 
wards saved  his  life — were  at  this  time,  by  his  own  exertions 
gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 

Much  of  this  is  necessarily  conjectural.  But "  whatever  length 
of  time  had  elapsed  since  Saul  came  from  Jerusalem  to  Tar- 
sus, and  however  that  time  had  been  employed  by  him — 
whether  he  had  already  founded  these  churches  in  his  native 
Cilicia,  which  we  read  of  soon  after,J — whether  he  had  there 
undergone  any  of  those  manifold  labors  and  sufferings  re- 
corded by  himself,§  but  omitted  by  St.  Luke, — whether  by 
active  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles,  by  study  of  their  litera- 
ture, by  travelling,  by  discoursing  with  their  philosophers,  he 
had  been  making  himself  acquainted  with  their  opinions  and 
prejudices,  and  so  preparing  his  mind  for  the  work  that  was 
before  him  ;  or  whether  he  had  been  waiting  in  silence  for  the 
call  of  God's  providence,  praying  for  guidance  from  above,  re- 
flecting on  the  condition  of  the  Gentiles,  and  gazing  more  and 
more  closely  on  the  plan  of  the  world's  redemption, — however 
this  may  be,  it  must  have  been  an  eventful  day  when  Barna- 
bas, having  come  across  the  sea  from  Seleucia,  or  round  by 
the  defiles  of  Mount  Amanus,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  streets 
of  Tarsus.  The  last  time  the  two  friends  met  was  in  Jerusalem. 
All  that  they  then  hoped,  and  probably  more  than  they 
then  thought  possible,  had  occurred.  God  had  granted  to  the 
Gentiles  repentance  unto  life.||  Barnabas  had  seen  '  the  grace 
of  God'^f  with  his  own  eyes  at  Antioch,  and  under  his  own 
teaching, '  a  great  multitude'**  had  been  '  added  to  the  Lord.* 
But  he  needed  the  assistance  of  one  whose  wisdom  was  higher 

*  Romans  xvi.  Y,  11.  f  Acts  xxiii.  16-22. 

X  Acts  xv.  41.  §  2  Cor.  xi. 

||  Acts  xi.  18.  If  Acts  xi.  23.  **  Acts  xi.  24. 


ANTIOCH.  215 

than  his  own,  whose  zeal  was  an  example  to  all,  and  whose 
peculiar  mission  had  been  miraculously  declared."* 

Saul  doubtless  accompanied  his  old  friend  with  great  readi- 
ness to  Antioch  :  and  the  result  of  a  year  of  their  joint  labor 
in  that  city  was  last  evening  noticed. 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

ANTIOCH. ACTS  XI.  26. 

As  the  first  city  in  which  a  church  gathered  directly  from 
the  Gentiles  was  founded,  and  as  the  spot  where  the  illustrious 
name  of  "  Christian"  was  first  heard,  Antioch  has  special 
claims  to  our  regard,  and  has  the  right  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  mother  church  of  Gentile  Christendom. 

If  the  map  be  consulted,  it  will  be  seen  that  Antioch  is  sit- 
uated nearly  in  the  angle  where  the  coast  line  of  Cilicia, 
running  eastward,  and  that  of  Palestine,  extending  northward, 
are  brought  to  an  abrupt  meeting.  It  will  also  be  perceived 
that,  more  or  less  parallel  to  each  of  these  coasts,  there  is  a 
line  of  mountains  not  far  from  the  sea,  which  are  brought  into 
contact  with  each  other  near  the  same  angle,  the  principal 
breach  in  the  continuity  of  either  of  them  being  the  valley  of 
the  Orontes,  which  passes  by  Antioch.  The  first  of  these 
mountain  ranges  is  the  Taurus,  so  often  mentioned  by  the 
writers  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;  the  latter  is  that  of  Lebanon,  a 
name  rendered  familiar  to  us  by  frequent  allusions  in  the 
Scriptures. 

The  city  established  in  this  spot  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament,  as  it  was  not  founded  till  some  time  after  the 
close  of  the  Hob  ^w  canon.  The  Jewish  commentators  in- 
deed make  it  to  h&v^  been  the  same  with  the  Riblah,  which  was 
the  head-quarters  of  Nebuchadnezzar  at  the  time  that  Jerusa- 
lem was  taken  by  his  generals,  and  to  which  Zedekiah  was 

*  Howson,  in  Life  and  Writings  of  St.  Paul,  i.  128. 


216  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

brought  to  meet  as  a  captive  his  proud  conqueror.*  If  this 
were  so,  the  place  would  be  of  very  ancient  date,  Riblah  being 
named  in  the  time  of  Moses  ;f  but  there  is  no  real  foundation 
for  this  identification  of  Antioch  (by  the  name  of  Daphne) 
with  Riblah,  and  there  are  some  serious  objections  to  it.  In 
the  Jewish  history,  which,  in  Josephus  and  in  the  books  of  the 
Maccabees,  fills  the  interval  between  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New,  Antioch  is  very  frequently  mentioned,  being  the  seat 
of  that  great  power  to  which  the  Jews  were  for  a  long  time 
more  or  less  subject,  and  against  which  they  were  sometimes 
in  arms  for  their  religious  and  political  rights.  That  power 
was  the  Greek  empire  in  Syria,  commonly  called  that  of  the 
Seleucidse,  from  its  founder  Seleucus,  one  of  the  generals  who 
shared  among  them  the  empire  of  Alexander.  It  was  to 
this  personage  that  Antioch  owed  its  origin,  at  least  as  a  great 
metropolitan  city ;  for  it  was  founded  by  him  expressly 
as  the  capital  of  his  western  Asiatic  States,  and  as  such  soon 
acquired  a  standing  as  one  of  the  first  among  the  great  cities 
of  the  earth,  which,  under  various  governments,  it  maintained 
for  nearly  a  thousand  years.  Seleucus  was  a  great  founder 
of  cities ;  but  he  had  a  weakness  for  calling  them  after  the 
names  of  his  own  family  to  a  degree  of  iteration,  which  stored 
up  some  perplexities  for  geographers  of  future  times.  To  six- 
teen cities  he  gave  the  name  of  Antiochia  after  his  father ; 
and  of  these  this  Antiochia  on  the  Orontes  was  destined  to 
become  the  chief.  Seven  cities  he  called  after  himself,  Se- 
leucia,  of  which  the  one  upon  the  Tigris — destined,  as  the 
capital  of  his  eastern  States,  to  rival  old  Babylon — became  the 
chief;  while  another,  distinguished  as  Seleucia  Pieria,  at  tne 
mouth  of  the  Orontes,  became  the  port  of  Antioch.  Five 
cities  were  called  by  Seleucus,  after  his  mother,  Laodicea ; 
three  from  the  name  of  his  first  wife,  Apamea ;  and  one  from 
his  second  wife,  Stratoniceia. 

Antioch,  like  London,  rose  to  the  extent  and  populousness 
which  it  eventually  attained,  by  the  accretion  of  the  several 
townships  to  the  original  city.     These  were  four  in  number. 

*  2  Kings  xxv.  6.  f  Num.  xxxiv.  11. 


ANTIOCH.  21*7 

The  first  of  them,  built  by  Seleucus,  was  peopled  chiefly  by 
his  removing  it  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  town  of 
Antigonia,  which  his  unhappy  rival,  Antigonus,  had  intended 
for  his  metropolis  ;  the  second  grew  out  of  the  overgrowth  of 
the  first,  and  was  peopled  by  settlers  from  it ;  the  third  was 
built,  or  at  least  consolidated,  about  fifty  years  after  the  first, 
by  the  second  Seleucus  (Callinicus) ;  and  the  fourth  about  forty 
years  after  that,  by  his  grandson,  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the 
notorious  persecutor  of  the  Jews.  Each  of  these  quarters  or 
townships  had  its  own  wall,  and  all  the  four  were  enclosed  by 
a  common  wall  of  great  strength. 

The  cities  just  named,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  others 
that  the  first  Seleucus  founded,  owed  their  origin  chiefly  to 
his  energy  and  perseverance,  in  carrying  out  the  projects  of 
Alexander  for  the  Hellenisation  of  his  Asiatic  empire,  by  sow- 
ing it  with  Greek  and  Macedonian  colonies,  which  might  be- 
come so  many  centres  of  Greek  civilization  and  refinement. 
And  how  well  this  object  was  realized,  is  shown  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  by  the  essentially  Grecian  character  of  the 
incidents  that  come  under  our  notice  in  the  visits  of  Saul  to 
the  cities  of  Asia,  as  well  as  from  the  allusions  to  Greek 
usages,  customs,  and  ideas,  which  pervade  such  of  the  Epistles 
as  are  addressed  to  the  churches  in  Asia.  The  measures  of 
Seleucus  and  his  successors  were  not,  indeed,  the  sole  causes 
of  this  result,  but  they  contributed  very  materially  towards  it. 
The  great  difficulty  of  Seleucus  was  to  find  inhabitants  for  the 
cities  he  founded.  Sometimes,  as  we  have  seen,  he  adopted, 
under  mitigating  circumstances,  the  barbarous  old  Oriental 
policy  of  removing  the  inhabitants  of  an  existing  town  to  his 
new  cities.  But  he  was  by  far  too  enlightened  a  man  not  to 
discern  the  essential  impolicy  of  this  course  ;  and  his  more 
usual  and  far  better  plan  was  to  attract  inhabitants,  by  offer- 
ing premiums  to  those  who  were  willing  to  become  citizens. 
This  accounts  for  the  extraordinary  privileges  which  the  Jews 
enjoyed  in  all  of  these  cities,  having  equal  rights,  in  all  re- 
spects, with  the  first  class  of  inhabitants — the  Macedonians. 
Higher  privileges  than  these  could  not  be  given  ;  and  that  the 

vol.  iv.  10 


218  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

Jews  understood  their  value,  is  evinced  by  the  large  bodies  of 
them  which  formed  a  prominent  part  of  the  population  in 
these  cities,  in  and  before  the  time  of  the  apostles. 

This  was  particularly  the  case  at  Antioch,  not  only  from  the 
wealth  and  importance  of  the  city,  but  from  the  commercial 
advantages  it  offered  to  a  people  who  had  already  addicted 
themselves  largely  to  mercantile  pursuits,  For,  by  its  harbor 
of  Seleucia,  Antioch  was  in  communication  with  all  the  trade 
of  the  Mediterranean ;  and,  through  the  open  country  behind 
the  Lebanon,  it  could  be  conveniently  approached  by  the  car- 
avans of  Mesopotamia  and  Arabia.  There  was,  in  fact,  every- 
thing in  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the  city  to  render 
it  a  place  of  most  miscellaneous  concourse ;  and  in  the  time 
of  the  apostles,  it  was  an  Oriental  Rome,  in  which  all  the 
forms  of  civilized  life  in  the  empire  found  some  representative. 
It  was  hence  well  suited  to  become  the  centre  of  apostolical 
movements  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Gentiles 
— among  "  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men." 

The  celebrated  names  of  Ignatius  and  Chrysostom  are  con- 
nected with  the  Christian  history  of  Antioch  : — Ignatius,  who 
is  said  to  have  conversed  with  the  apostles,  and  who,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  second  century,  witnessed  a  good  confession  be- 
fore Trajan,  at  Antioch,  where  he  was  bishop,  and  was  sent 
to  be  given  to  the  lions  in  the  amphitheatre  at  Rome  ; — Chry- 
sostom, who  was  a  native  of  this  city,  and  who,  in  the  fourth 
century,  uttered  within  the  walls  of  its  great  church  those 
noble  orations  which  had  already  made  his  name  illustrious 
before  his  removal  to  Byzantium. 

Owing  to  this  felicity  of  its  situation,  Antioch  continued  to 
flourish  long  after  the  apostolic  age,  and  to  survive  disasters 
which  would  have  ruined  most  other  cities.  Even  after  Con- 
stantinople became  the  metropolis  of  the  Roman  Empire  in 
the  East,  its  glory  was  only  gradually  eclipsed  by  that  of  the 
imperial  city ;  and  in  the  times  of  Chrysostom,  it  still  num- 
bered 200,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  one-half,  or  even  more, 
were  Christians.  And  the  church  there  maintained  3,000 
poor,  and  afforded  occasional  relief  to  many  more.     It  was 


ANTIOCH.  219 

still  a  great  and  populous  city  in  the  time  of  the  Crusaders, 
who  gained  possession  of  it  in  1098,  and  erected  it  into  a 
Christian  principality.  Even  down  to  the  year  1268,  when  it 
received  its  final  overthrow  as  a  great  city  from  the  hand  of 
the  Sultan  Bibars,  it  was  still  so  populous  that  it  supplied 
100,000  persons  to  captivity,  and  17,000  to  the  sword.  From 
that  blow  it  never  rose  to  any  higher  rank  than  that  of  a 
fourth-rate  town ;  and  from  even  that  rank  it  has  declined 
since  1822,  when  an  earthquake  destroyed  one- fourth  of  its 
20,000  inhabitants.  Had  the  Egyptians  retained  possession 
of  the  country,  it  might  possibly  have  risen  once  more,  for  it 
was  the  full  purpose  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  to  make  it  the  capital 
of  Syria.  When  he  took  measures  for  this  end  in  1835,  the 
population  of  Antioch  was  ascertained  to  be  not  more  than 
5,600,  exclusive  of  about  6,000  Egyptian  troops. 

Of  the  buildings,  with  which  a  long  line  of  Syrian  kings 
and  Roman  emperors  delighted  to  adorn  "The  Gate  of  the 
East,"  we  may  not  expect  to  find  that  much  remains  in  a  city 
so  often  ruined  by  earthquake  and  by  war.  The  ruins  of 
gates,  bridges,  castles,  towers,  and  churches,  may  mostly  be 
traced  to  the  Byzantine  and  Saracenic  periods,  and  to  the  age 
of  the  Crusades. 

In  an  antiquarian  point  of  view,  the  walls  are  the  most  in- 
teresting. Of  their  immense  strength,  ample  proof  exists  in 
their  ruins.  They  encircled  the  town  in  every  direction,  run- 
ning down  from  the  highest  ridges  of  the  mountains  till  they 
reached  the  embankment  of  the  Orontes,  where  they  were  car- 
ried on  in  a  line  parallel  with  the  river,  here  running  nearly  due 
north  and  south.  The  gates  leading  to  the  bridge  by  which  the 
river  is  crossed  in  proceeding  towards  Seleucia,  are  to  this  day 
of  immense  strength,  while  the  bridge  itself  is  one  of  the  finest 
specimens  of  architecture  in  the  East.  Parts  of  it  have  been 
renewed  and  patched  up,  but  the  arches  are  of  very  ancient 
construction,  and  still  promise  to  hold  out  for  ages  longer 
against  the  perpetual  warfare  they  sustain  from  the  rapid 
waves  of  the  Orontes,  which  already  tell  upon  the  modern 
portions,  though  less  exposed  than  the  ancient  to  their  action. 


220 


FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK. — WEDNESDAY. 


The  old  walls,  as  well  as  the  strong  buildings  of  the  Crusa- 
ders, were  to  a  great  extent  blown  up  with  gunpowder  by 
Ibrahim  Pasha,  for  materials  wherewith  to  beautify  the  mod- 
ern city.  The  magnificent  barracks,  built  to  accommodate 
10,000  men,  as  well  as  his  beautiful  palace  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Orontes,  were  built  with  such  materials ;  but  these  are  al- 
ready in  a  state  of  tottering  dilapidation,  while  the  towers  and 
buttresses  built  ages  ago,  are  still  as  strongly  held  together  by 
their  mortar  and  lime  as  at  the  time  of  their  erection. 

The  walls  appear  from  the  existing  remains,  to  have  extend- 


ed about  seven  miles.  But  the  modern  Antakiyah  covers  but 
a  small  part  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  city,  the  remainder 
being,  for  the  most  part,  occupied  with  mulberry  groves,  vine- 
yards and  fruit  gardens.  It  contains  several  baths,  two  khans, 
some  fountains,  a  Mohammedan  college,  and  fourteen  mosques. 
The  Jews  worship  in  a  room  in  the  house  of  the  chief  among 
them ;  and  the  Christians  meet  for  prayer  in  a  cavern  dedicat- 
ed to  St.  John.  The  inhabitants  still  cherish  the  remembrance 
of  St.  Paul's  visit  to  their  city ;  and  one  of  its  gates — that 
leading  to  Aleppo — is  still,  among  all  classes,  called  by  his 
name.     The  houses  are  Turkish  as  to  plan,  but  of  inferior  con- 


ANTIOCH.  221 

struction,  usually  of  stone,  though  frequently  consisting  of  a 
wooden  frame  tilled  up  with  sundried  bricks,  and  having  a 
pent  roof  covered  with  red  tiles.  Antakiyah  is,  in  fact,  the 
only  town  in  Syria  or  Palestine  where  tiles  are  used  in  roof- 
ing the  houses;  and  this  singular  deviation  from  ordinary 
Oriental  practice  may  probably  have  been  introduced  from  the 
west  by  the  Crusaders,  as  a  better  protection  from  the  frequent 
and  heavy  rains  of  the  locality  than  the  Oriental  roof  can  af- 
ford. Exterior  stone  doors  lead  from  a  court  shaded  by 
orange  and  pomegranate  trees  to  corridors  and  balconies;  and 
the  doors  and  windows  of  the  buildings  usually  face  the  west, 
for  the  sake  of  the  cool  breeze  coming  from  that  quarter  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  summer.  The  houses  are  seldom 
more  than  one  story  high,  and  each  house  is  entirely  enclosed 
by  a  wall  as  Hgh  as  the  house  itself.  Thus  the  whole  street 
has  the  appearance  of  one  continuous  stone  wall,  with  entrance 
doors  at  intervals  of  twenty  or  thirty  3-ards,  the  tiled  roofs 
being  the  only  indication  to  people  in  the  streets  of  habitations 
within.  The  streets  are  rather  wide  for  an  Eastern  town,  and 
are  paved  about  a  yard  and  a  half  on  either  side,  with  a  deep 
ditch  or  gutter  in  the  centre.  Foot-passengers  keep  to  the 
pavements,  and  horsemen  and  laden  animals  must  confine 
themselves  to  the  ditch.  Like  all  Turkish  towns,  Antakiyah 
would  be  poisoned  with  filth,  were  it  not  that  it  is  built  on  a 
gently  rising  ground  up  to  the  foot  of  the  high  hill  behind. 
When  a  shower  occurs,  torrents  of  water  come  pouring  down 
the  ravines  and  chasms  of  the  mountains,  and  forcing  an  exit 
through  the  streets  of  the  town,  carry  away  everything  mov- 
able before  them  into  the  fast-flowing  waters  of  the  deep  Oron- 
tes.  The  result  is,  that  when  the  rain  is  over,  the  streets  have 
been  most  effectually  purified.  It  is  on  these  occasions  that 
those  antique  coins  and  stones  are  collected  for  which  the 
place  has  long  been  famous.  No  sooner  have  the  waters  begun 
to  abate,  than  swarms  of  children  may  be  observed  busily  oc- 
cupied in  the  numerous  gutters,  armed  with  sieves,  and  sticks, 
and  brooms,  sweeping  and  clearing  away  the  mud,  and  ear- 
nestly occupied  in  hunting  for  antiques.     Seldom  is  the  search 


222  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — THURSDAY. 

fruitless.  Some  of  the  young  seekers  find  silver  coins,  others 
copper,  and  some  few  rejoice  in  the  discovery  of  gems.  Thus 
do  the  new  generations  of  Antiochians  seek  for  the  memorials 
of  the  ancient  glories  of  their  city  in  the  very  mud  of  its  streets. 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

A.GABUS. ACTS  XI.  27-30. 

In  the  course  of  the  transactions  at  Antioch  which  have 
lately  engaged  our  attention,  probably  during  the  year  of  Bar- 
nabas and  Saul's  joint  labor  there,  certain  "  prophets  "  arrived 
from  Jerusalem.  One  of  these,  named  Agabus,  impelled  by 
the  Spirit,  stood  up  in  the  congregation  of  the  believers,  and 
declared  "  that  there  should  be  great  dearth  throughout  all 
the  world."  The  historian  adds  that  this  prediction  was  ac- 
complished "in  the  days  of  Claudius  Caesar."  The  disciples, 
having  full  faith  in  this  intimation,  determined  that  every  one 
of  them,  according  to  his  means,  should  send  relief  to  the 
brethren  in  Judea.  A  collection  was  accordingly  made  for 
the  purpose,  and  the  amount  thus  realized  was  remitted  to  the 
elders  at  Jerusalem,  by  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and  Saul. 

This  is  the  plain  statement  of  the  facts ;  but  out  of  it  one 
or  two  questions  arise,  which  are  well  entitled  to  our  consider- 
ation. 

Who  were  these  "  prophets,"  of  whom  Agabus  was  one,  and 
the  only  one  to  whom  any  foretellings  are  ascribed  ? 

The  word  "  prophet "  does  certainly,  in  its  primary  sense, 
denote  one  who  foretells  future  events.  As,  however,  such 
prophets  were  commonly  regarded  as  public  instructors  in 
religion,  and  as  they  constantly  appear  in  that  capacity  in  the 
Old  Testament,  this  more  general  idea  of  a  public  teacher 
came  to  be  expressed  by  the  word.  In  this  sense  it  frequently 
occurs  in  the  New  Testament,  where  there  is  no  apparent  ref- 


AGABUS.  223 

erence  to  the  prediction  of  things  future.*  It  therefore  seema 
that  the  "  prophets  "  of  the  New  Testament  were  such  disci- 
ples as  applied  themselves  to  public  teaching  and  preaching, 
and  who  were  occasionally  enabled,  under  the  inspiration  of 
the  Divine  Spirit,  to  foretell  things  to  come  which  it  concern- 
ed the  church  to  know.  We  suppose  that  although  to  foretell 
future  events  was  not  the  primary  function  or  gift  of  these 
"  prophets,"  and  that,  although  there  were  probably  many  who 
never  did  predict  things  to  come ;  yet  that,  when  such  predic- 
tions were  given,  they  usually  came  from  some  one  of  these 
prophets.  Some  also  appear  to  have  possessed  this  endow- 
ment more  signally,  or  to  have  been  favored  with  the  Divine 
intimations  of  this  kind  more  frequently  or  usually  than  others. 
Thus,  the  only  other  notice  in  Scripture  that  we  find  respecting 
this  Agabus,  is  in  connection  with  a  similar  prediction ;  for 
this  is  the  same  person  who,  at  a  later  period,  foretold  to  Paul 
that  he  would  at  Jerusalem  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the 
Gentiles.     Acts  xxi.  10,  11. 

The  other  question  is  respecting  the  famine  thus  predicted, 
and  which  we  are  expressly  informed  took  place  in  the  reign 
of  Claudius  Caesar.  If  such  a  famine  did  take  place,  we  should 
suppose  that  there  ought  to  be  some  secular  record  of  it,  which 
it  would  be  satisfactory  to  produce.  Is  there  any  such  record  ? 
Before  proceeding  to  inquire,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  the  read- 
er back  to  the  explanation  formerly  given  f  of  the  limited 
sense  in  which  such  phrases  as  "  all  the  world,"  and  "  the  whole 
earth,"  must  sometimes  be  understood.  It  was  then  shown 
that  in  the  same  writer,  Luke,  this  large  phrase  is  used  to  de 
note  no  more  than  the  land  of  Judea.  We  may,  therefore, 
look  for  some  indication  in  the  text  itself,  whether  in  this 
place  we  are  to  take  it  in  the  larger  or  the  narrower  sense ; 
and  that  we  are  to  receive  it  in  the  latter  seems  to  be  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  those,  to  whom  the  prediction  is  delivered, 
clearly  understood  that  the  brethren  in  Judea  would  be  expos- 
ed to  sufferings  from  which  they  would  themselves  be  exempt. 

*  See  Rom.  xii.  6  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  10,  28 ;  xiii.2,  8 ;  xiv.  3,  5,  24. 
f  Evening  Series.    Twenty-Eighth  Week— Thursday. 


224  FORTF-SIXTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

And  this  consideration  becomes  the  more  emphatic  if,  as  was 
probable,  the  money  was  not  sent  till  the  famine  had  actually 
commenced.  If  the  calamity  extended  to  Syria,  of  which 
Antioch  was  the  metropolis,  the  brethren  there  would  havje 
been  in  as  much  need  of  help  as  those  in  Judea. 

History  records  that  there  were  not  only  one,  but  four 
famines  in  the  reign  of  Claudius;  but  none  of  them  were 
general  to  all  the  world,  nor  even  to  all  the  Roman  Empire ; 
and  one  of  them  wTas  almost  confined  to  Palestine,  or  was  at 
least  more  severely  felt  there  than  in  other  parts. 

The  first  of  these  four  dearths  was  at  Rome,  in  the  first  and 
second  years  of  Claudius,  and  arose  from  the  difficulties  of  in- 
troducing adequate  supplies  of  corn  from  abroad.  These 
difficulties  must  have  been  chiefly  local,  for  the  emperor  was 
considered  to  have  taken  the  proper  measures  for  preventing 
the  recurrence  of  a  dearth  from  the  same  causes,  by  making 
at  a  great  expense  a  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  a  con- 
venient passage  from  thence  up  to  the  city.  Before  this  was 
done,  corn  could  only  be  brought  to  Rome  in  summer,  and 
was  stored  in  granaries  for  winter  use ;  and  this,  we  conclude, 
must  have  rendered  the  last  crop  of  foreign  grain  generally 
unavailable  for  the  service  of  Rome  in  winter.  This  could  not 
have  been  the  dearth  predicted  by  Agabus. 

The  second  scarcity  occurred  in  the  ninth  year  of  Claudius, 
and  is  only  mentioned  by  Eusebius,*  the  sole  authority,  as 
afflicting  Greece,  where  a  modius  of  wheat  was  sold  for  6 
drachms.  This  would  be  160s.  the  quarter  at  the  present  value 
of  silver ;  but  silver  was  then  of  considerably  higher  value 
than  it  is  now.  This,  therefore,  would  be  a  truly  famine  price, 
being  considerably  more  than  double  the  present(1853)  high 
price  of  corn  with  us.  Archbishop  Ussher  has  endeavored  to 
show  that  this  famine  was  universal,  and  therefore  the  one  de- 
noted by  Agabus,  but  the  proof  of  this  foils  altogether. 

The  third  dearth  was  at  Rome  in  the  eleventh  year  of 
Claudius.  It  seems  to  have  been  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
first.  From  the  terms  in  which  it  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus, 
*  Chronicon,  i  79. 


AGABUS.  225 

we  gather  that  the  granaries  had  become  exhausted,  while 
the  ships  which  might,  under  ordinary  circumstances  (if  the 
works  of  Claudius  were  then  completed),  have  brought  up  from 
foreign  ports  the  produce  of  the  last  harvest,  were  kept  away 
by  adverse  winds  and  weather.  But  this  was  not  of  long  du- 
ration ;  for  when  the  granaries  of  Rome  were  nearly  empty, 
"  by  the  goodness  of  the  gods,  and  the  mildness  of  the  winter, 
ships  arrived  with  sufficient  provisions."*  This  therefore  be- 
coming  merely  local  and  temporary,  was  not  the  dearth  of 
Agabus. 

The  fourth  dearth,  but  the  second  in  time,  is  that  which 
afflicted  Judea  towards  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  of  Claudius. 
It  is  mentioned  by  Josephus,  and  in  terms  which  would  alone 
suggest  that  this  was  the  famine  which  the  sacred  historian 
had  in  view.  It  is  adduced  by  Josephus  somewhat  incident- 
ally, in  connection  with  Helena  queen  of  Adibene.  This 
princess  was  a  proselyte  to  Judaism,  and  had  brought  up  her 
son  Izates  in  the  same  faith,  in  which  he  was  more  fully  con- 
firmed afterwards  by  a  learned  Jew  called  Ananias.  Speak- 
ing of  the  arrival  of  Helena  at  Jerusalem,  the  Jewish  histo- 
rian says  : — "  Her  arrival  was  a  great  blessing  to  the  people  ; 
for  the  city,  at  that  time  laboring  under  a  heavy  famine,  so 
that  a  great  many  perished  for  want,  the  queen  sent  abroad 
several  of  her  officers ;  some  to  Alexandria  for  the  purchase 
of  corn,  others  to  Cyprus  to  buy  up  dried  figs.  These  having 
used  the  utmost  expedition,  as  soon  as  they  returned,  she  dis- 
tributed food  to  those  who  were  in  need.  By  this  liberality  she 
laid  a  lasting  obligation  upon  our  whole  nation.  Moreover,  hei 
son  Izates,  having  heard  of  the  famine,  sent  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  the  chief  men  of  Jerusalem."!  Afterwards  he  refers 
to  the  same  famine,  in  such  terms  as  seem  to  show  that  it 
was  not  confined  to  one  season,  but  extended  over  two  or 
three  years. 

It  is  clear  from  supplies  of  corn  being  obtained  from  abroad, 
that  the  dearth  was  confined  to,  or  was  felt  with  most  intensity 
in  Judea.     That  it  did  not  extend  to  Egypt  on  the  south  is 
*  Tacit.  Ann.  xii.  43.  f  Antig.  xx.  2,  6. 

10* 


226  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

clear,  and  if  it  had  been  felt  to  the  northeast,  Izates  would 
have  wanted  his  money  to  feed  his  own  people.  In  this  case 
we  see  that  Helena  and  Izates,  proselytes  to  Judaism,  do  the 
same  thing  for  the  native  Jews,  which  the  proselytes  to  Chris- 
tianity at  Antioch,  do  for  the  native  Christians.  It  is  well  rea- 
soned from  this  case  by  Lardner,*  who  has  brought  together 
all  the  information  bearing  upon  the  subject,  "  that  the  Jews 
of  Judea  seem  to  have  expected  it  as  due  to  them  that  some 
particular  regard  should  be  shown  them  by  the  rest  of  their 
countrymen,  and  all  who  came  over  to  the  worship  of  the  true 
God,  and  were  admitted  to  share  in  any  of  the  privileges  of 
the  Jewish  nation.  Thus  St.  Paul  assures  us  :f  (  Only  they 
would  that  we  should  remember  the  poor,  the  same  which  I 
also  was  forward  to  do.'  The  very  last  time  that  St.  Paul 
was  at  Jerusalem :  '  After  many  years,'  says  he, '  I  came  to  bring 
alms  to  my  nation  and  offerings.'];  Nor  was  St.  Paul's  argu- 
ment a  new  thought,  though  expressed  by  him  with  a  divine 
temper  :  '  But  now  I  go  unto  Jerusalem,  to  minister  unto  the 
saints ;  for  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  to 
make  a  certain  contribution  for  the  poor  saints  that  are  at 
Jerusalem.  It  hath  pleased  them  verily,  and  their  debtors  they 
are.  For  if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made  partakers  of  their 
spiritual  things,  their  duty  is  also  to  minister  to  them  in  car- 
nal things."     Rom.  xv.  25-27. 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

HEROD  AGRIPPA. ACTS  XII.   1 

The  twelfth  chapter  of  the  Acts  opens  with  an  account  of 
the  hostile  proceedings  of  "  Herod  the  king"  against  the  church 
at  Jerusalem. 

Without  information  from  other  sources,  we  should  be  con- 

*  Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History,  ch.  11. 
f  Gal.  ii.  10.  %  Acts  x*^-  17- 


HEROD    AGRIPPA.  227 

eiderably  perplexed  to  find  Judea  again  a  kingdom,  when  it 
was  but  lately  we  saw  it  a  Roman  province,  governed  by  a 
Roman  procurator  ;  and  we  might  be  somewhat  at  a  loss  to 
distinguish  this  "  Herod  the  king"  from  two  others  of  the  same 
name  and  title  mentioned  in  the  Gospels.  The  first  was  a  real 
king,  Herod  the  Great ;  the  second  was  his  son  Herod  Anti- 
pas,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  called  "  king"  by  his  own  subjects  ; 
the  third  is  this  Herod — also  a  real  king,  possessed  of  all  the 
territories  over  which  the  first  Herod  had  reigned.  In  com- 
mon history  he  bears  the  name  of  Agrippa,  which  was  his 
Roman  name  ;  and  writers  now  usually  add  this  to  his  Jewish 
name  of  Herod,  calling  him  Herod-Agrippa,  for  the  sake  of 
distinctiveness.  The  first  Herod  had  early  strengthened  himself 
by  marrying  Mariamne,  the  grand-daughter  of  the  high-priest, 
Hyrcanus  II.,  the  last  ruling  prince  of  that  noble  Maccabsean 
house  which  his  own  had  supplanted.  By  her  he  had  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  The  sons  were  Alexander  and  Aris- 
tobulus  ;  and  they  were  both  in  one  day  put  to  death  by  their 
father  on  an  unfounded  suspicion  of  their  conspiring  against 
his  power.  Aristobulus  had  espoused  Bernice,  a  daughter  of 
his  father's  sister  Salome ;  and  of  this  marriage  the  issue  was 
the  present  Herod-Agrippa,  Aristobulus,  Herod  (king  of  Chal- 
cis,)  and  Herodias,  the  notorious  wife  of  Herod  Antipas. 
Herod-Agrippa  himself  married  his  cousin  Cypros,  daughter 
of  his  father's  sister  Salampsio  by  her  cousin  Phasael ;  and 
by  this  marriage  he  had  five  children,  three  of  whom  are 
mentioned  in  the  sequel  of  the  Acts.  These  three  are  the 
"king  Agrippa"  (Herod-Agrippa  II.,)  before  whom  Paul 
pleaded  at  Csesarea,  after  he  had  appealed  to  Caesar ;  Bernice, 
who  was  present  on  that  occasion  ;  and  Drusilla,  who  is  named 
in  Acts  xxiv.  24  as  the  wife  of  the  Roman  governor  Felix. 
Thus,  then,  it  appears  that  Herod-Agrippa  was  grandson  of 
Herod  the  Great,  nephew  of  Herod  Antipas,  brother  of  Hero- 
dias, and  father  of  king  Agrippa,  Bernice,  and  Drusilla. 

The  history  of  this  man  is  remarkable  for  romantic  interest 
and  strange  vicissitudes.  A  full  exposition  of  its  diversified 
incidents  might  be  made  the  vehicle  of  much  information 


228  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

illustrative  of  the  ideas,  and  the  moral  and  social  condition 
and  usages  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  and  of  the  countries 
with  which  he  was  connected ;  but  a  very  concise  sketch  is  all 
that  can  here  be  given. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  father,  the  young  Agrippa  was 
sent  to  Rome  to  be  brought  up  at  the  imperial  court.  He  was 
well  received  there,  and  educated  with  the  younger  Drusus, 
son  of  the  future  emperor  Tiberius,  while  his  concerns  were 
kindly  watched  over  with  maternal  solicitude  by  Antonia,  wife 
of  the  elder  Drusus  (brother  of  Tiberius),  and  mother  of  the 
future  emperor  Claudius.  Antonia  was  an  attached  friend  to 
Agrippa's  mother  Bernice,  and  for  her  sake  proved  herself  a 
fast  friend  to  her  son  to  the  end  of  her  life.  Bernice  herself 
came  to  Rome  soon  after  the  death  of  Herod  the  Great,  along 
with  her  mother  Salome,  and  her  half-brother  Archelaus, 
when  the  latter  went  to  procure  from  Augustus  the  confirma- 
tion of  his  father's  will.  Bernice  remained  at  Rome,  in  the 
enjoyment  of  Antonia's  friendship  and  protection,  and  watch- 
ful of  her  son's  interests.  As  long  as  his  mother  lived,  Agrippa 
conducted  himself  very  well ;  but  after  her  death  he  gave  full 
sway  to  his  natural  disposition  for  dissipation  and  extrava- 
gance, and  in  a  few  years  had  wasted  all  his  substance  in 
riotous  living,  and  in  profuse  largesses  to  those  whom  he  sup- 
posed able  to  advance  his  interests  with  the  emperor.  He 
then  began  to  be  in  want ;  and  any  prospects  of  relief  or  re- 
stored fortune  which  he  may  have  founded  on  the  friendship 
or  influence  of  Drusus,  were  extinguished  by  the  death  of  that 
prince,  followed  as  it  was  by  an  order  from  Tiberius  that  all 
the  intimate  associates  of  his  deceased  son  should  avoid  his 
presence,  lest  the  sight  of  them  should  remind  him  of  the  loss 
he  had  sustained.  Sunk  into  poverty,  overwhelmed  with  debt, 
and  hopeless  of  the  future,  Agrippa  felt  that  Rome  was  no 
longer  a  place  for  him,  and  he  withdrew,  with  his  wife  Cypros, 
into  privacy  and  retirement  at  Malatha  in  Idumea.  Here  he 
felt  quite  out  of  his  element ;  and  brooding  daily  over  his 
wasted  life  and  abortive  prospects,  he  resolved  upon  self-de- 
struction.    His  purpose  was,  however,  discovered  by  his  wife, 


HEROD    AGRIPFA.  221 

who  successfully  exerted  herself  to  divert  him  from  it.  This 
good  wife,  having  thus  found  how  reckless  her  husband  had 

become — 

"  As  one  past  hope  abandoned, 
And  by  himself  given  over." 

deemed  that  the  time  had  arrrived  for  her  to  exert  herself  on 
his  behalf.  She  therefore  wrote  a  letter  to  his  sister  Herodias, 
describing  her  husband's  forlorn  condition,  and  gloomy  state 
of  mind,  and  imploring  her  to  prevail  upon  Herod  the  tetrarch 
to  do  something  for  him.  On  this  Herod  sent  to  invite  him 
to  his  court ;  and  on  his  arrival  appointed  him  to  reside  at 
Tiberias,  as  its  magistrate,  with  a  house  and  adequate  pension. 
Here  the  thriftless  Agrippa  relapsed  into  his  old  habits  of 
extravagance,  and  soon  wearied  out  the  liberality  of  Herod, 
who  took  occasion  of  a  public  entertainment  at  Tyre  to  taunt 
him  with  his  poverty,  his  extravagance,  and  his  entire  de- 
pendence upon  him.  Agrippa  fired  at  this ;  and  freely  re- 
torting taunt  for  taunt,  he  flung  back  his  uncle's  favors  with 
disdain,  and  repaired  to  Flaccus,  who  was  now  the  Roman 
governor  of  Syria,  and  with  whom  he  had  been  intimate  at 
Rome.  With  him  he  found  his  own  brother,  Aristobulus, 
with  whom  he  was  at  enmity,  and  who  eventually  succeeded 
in  driving  Agrippa  from  the  protection  of  Flaccus,  by  accus- 
ing him  of  having  taken  a  bribe  from  the  Damascenes  to  sup- 
port their  cause  with  the  pro-consul  against  the  Sidonians. 
The  charge  was  true ;  and  Agrippa  had  again  to  wander 
forth  in  search  of  means  to  live.  He  repaired  to  Ptole- 
mais,  and  the  sight  of  the  shipping  at  that  port  probably 
suggested  the  idea  of  embarking  for  Italy,  considering  that  it 
could  not  be  worse  for  him  there  than  elsewhere,  and  might 
be  better.  The  great  obstacle  was  the  want  of  money  ;  but 
this  he  at  length  surmounted  by  procuring  from  one  Peter, 
who  was  the  freedman  of  Bernice,  the  sum  of  17.500  drachmae, 
upon  his  bond  for  20,000.  Thus  provided,  he  took  ship,  and 
was  ready  to  depart,  when  he  was  intercepted  by  a  body  of 
cavalry  sent  by  Herennius  Capito,  the  imperial  procurator  in 
Jamnia,  for  a  debt  of  300,000  drachmae  which  he  had  for- 


230  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

merly  contracted.  He  soothed  his  captors  by  professions  and 
promises,  but  tooK  ntage  of  the  night  to  cut  his  cables 

and  sail  away  for  Alexandria.  Here  his  wife's  security  availed 
to  procure  him  a  loan  of  200,000  drachmae  from  Alexander, 
the  alabarch  of  the  Egyptian  Jews,  after  it  had  been  refused 
him  on  his  own.  This  person,  however,  knew  Agrippa  too  well 
to  pay  the  whole  of  this  large  sum  down,  fearing  that  he 
would  forthwith  squander  it  away;  but  gave  him  part  of 
it,  and  undertook  that  the  rest  should  be  paid  after  his  arrival 
in  Italy.  He  then  sailed  for  Italy,  and  was  well  received  by 
Tiberius,  who  was  residing  in  the  island  of  Caprese,  and  whose 
grief  for  the  loss  of  Drusus  had  been  abated  by  lapse  of  time. 
But  the  very  next  day  a  letter  arrived  from  Herennius,  giving 
the  particulars  of  his  debt  and  flight ;  and  upon  this  the  em- 
peror forbade  him  to  come  into  his  presence  till  the  debt  was 
paid.  From  this  trouble  he  was  relieved  by  the  kindness  of 
Antonia,  who,  from  regard  to  his  mother,  advanced  him 
money  enough  to  satisfy  this  demand.  This  restored  him  to 
the  favor  of  Tiberius,  who  directed  him  to  attend  upon  his  grand- 
son, Tiberius  Gemellus ;  but  mindful  of  the  sincere  friendship 
of  Antonia,  to  which  he  had  been  so  often  indebted,  Agrippa 
gradually  attached  himself  to  her  grandson,  Caius  Caligula, 
and  at  length  became  his  constant  companion,  and  acquired 
great  influence  with  him.  This  sort  of  life  cost  money  ;  but 
Agrippa  had  borrowed  a  million  of  drachmae,  with  which  he 
repaid  the  loan  of  Antonia,  and  spent  the  rest  in  paying  court 
to  her  grandson.  Troubles,  however,  still  awaited  him.  Rid- 
ing out  one  day  with  Caius,  he  incautiously  expressed  to  the 
latter  a  wish  that  the  death  of  Tiberius  might  soon  raise  him 
to  imperial  power.  This  was  overheard  by  the  charioteer, 
who  afterwards  being  detected  in  a  theft,  intimated  that  he 
had  something  of  importance  to  communicate  to  the  emperor. 
Tiberius  at  first  refused  to  hear  the  man,  but  at  length  granted 
him  an  audience  at  the  intercession  of  Agrippa  himself.  No 
sooner  was  the  charge  made  than  Agrippa,  though  clothed  in 
purple,  was  laden  with  chains,  and  remained  in  close  custody 
until  the  death  of  the  emperor,  which  happened  six  months 


HEROD    AGRIPPA.  23 i 

after,  notwithstanding  the  exertions  of  Antonia  in  his  behalf. 
But  the  demise  cf  Tiberius  changed  his  condition  from  that 
of  a  captive  to  a  king.  The  new  emperor  speedily  called  him 
to  his  presence.  He  caused  him  to  be  shaved,  and  made  him 
change  his  raiment.  He  then  placed  a  diadem  upon  his  head, 
and  declared  him  king  of  Gaulonitis,  Batanea,  and  gave  him 
besides  the  tetrarchy  of  Lysanias ;  while  for  the  iron  chain  by 
which  he  had  been  bound  to  the  soldier  that  kept  him,  he  be- 
stowed on  him  one  of  equal  weight  in  gold. 

Agrippa  was  too  prudent  to  manifest  much  haste  to  quit 
Rome.  At  length  in  the  second  year  of  Caligula  he  obtained 
leave  to  go  and  settle  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom.  He  went 
by  way  of  Alexandria,  where  his  re-appearance  in  the  charac- 
ter of  a  king  was  hailed  with  mirth,  derision,  and  insult.  In 
Palestine  he  was  gazed  at  with  wonder,  and  by  his  own  rela- 
tions was  regarded  with  envy.  Herodias,  in  particular,  was  exas- 
perated at  her  brother's  triumph,  and  urged  her  husband  to  seek 
for  himself  equal  honors.  Herod  Antipas,  accompanied  by 
her,  went  to  Rome  for  that  purpose,  but  Agrippa  sent  an  en- 
voy to  resist  this  claim,  and  to  make  certain  charges  against 
his  uncle ;  and  afterwards  went  himsef  to  render  his  opposi- 
tion more  effectual  by  his  personal  influence.  His  success  was 
such  that  Herod  was  banished  to  Lyons  in  Gaul,  whither  his 
wife  involuntarily  followed  him,  and  where  they  both  died. 
The  forfeited  tetrarchy,  together  with  the  personal  property  of 
his  uncle,  were  bestowed  upon  Agrippa,  forming  a  material 
addition  to  his  power,  and  giving  him  a  footing  on  this  side 
the  Jordan.  It  was  during  this  residence  at  Rome  that  Agrippa 
found  occasion  to  render  that  service  to  the  Jews,  in  respect  of 
the  image  of  the  emperor,  which  we  have  already  commemo- 
rated. He  was  still  at  Rome  when  Caligula  died,  and  Clau- 
dius succeeded  to  the  empire.  "With  this  prince,  the  son  of  his 
best  friend  Antonia,  Agrippa  had  been  educated ;  and  his  in- 
fluence over  him  being  great,  he  took  no  unimportant  part  in 
the  measures  which  secured  for  him  the  imperial  purple.  Im- 
mediately on  his  accession,  Claudius  raised  his  friend  to  the 
rank  of  consul,  he  added   to  his  dominions  Judea,  Samaria, 


232 


FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 


Abila,  and  part  of  Lebanon — so  that  Agrippa  now  possessed 
the  entire  kindom  of  his  grandfather,  Herod  the  Great. 

It  was  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign  over  all  Palestine  that 
the  Sacred  History  takes  notice  of  him*  and  when  he  had 
been  about  two  years  in  the  country.  On  his  arrival  at  Jeru- 
salem in  a.  d.  42,  he  presented  many  thank-offerings  upon  the 
altar,  and  suspended  near  the  treasury  the  golden  chain  he 
had  received  from  Caligula,  as  a  memorial  of  his  deliverance. 
He  was  covetous  of  popularity  among  his  subjects,  and  labor- 
ed much  to  gratify  them.  In  this  the  testimony  of  Josephus 
agrees  with  that  of  Luke.  Some  of  his  undertakings  were, 
however,  frustrated  by  the  jealousy  of  the  Romans,  as  when 
he  undertook  to  raise  and  strengthen  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 


It  happens  that  this  is  the  only  Jewish  prince  of  whom  any 
certain  likeness  exists.  It  is  found  on  a  coin  of  great  rarity 
and  interest,  a  representation  of  which  is  here  introduced.* 


FORTY-SIXTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 


JAMES  THE  BROTHER  OF  JOHN. ACTS  XII.  2. 


It  was  this  man,  such  as  we  described  him  last  evening — 
is  called  by  Luke,  "  Agrippa  the 


"  Herod  the  king,"  as  he 


*  Copied  with  the  author's  kind  permission  from  Numismatic  Il- 
lustrations of  the  New  Testament,  by  Johx  Yonge  Akerman,  F.  S.  A. 
Loudon,  1846.  The  obverse  bears  the  head  of  Agrippa,  with  the  title 
of  Megas— BACIAEVC  MFTAC  ArPIIHIAC.  *IAOKAICAP— King 
Agrippa  the  Great,  lover  of  Caesar.  The  reverse — KA1CAPIA  H. 
HPOC.  T£2v  CEBACYS2j;  AIMENI,  i.  e.  Casarea  ad  portum  Sebastum. 
Fortune  standing  with  her  attributes 


JAMES  THE  BROTHER  OF  JOHN.  233 

Great,'1  as  lie  liked  to  be  designated,  who  "  about  that  time," — 
that  is,  about  the  time  of  the  visit  of  Saul  and  Barnabas  to 
Jerusalem,  "  stretched  forth  his  hands  to  vex  certain  of  the 
church."  The  Christian  church  at  Jerusalem  had  become  too 
prominent  to  escape  his  notice ;  and  perceiving  how  deeply 
that  body  was  disliked  and  hated  by  the  Jews,  he  expected  to 
win  some  favor  with  them  by  manifesting  hostility  against  its 
leading  members.  That  this  was  his  primary  object  is  clear 
from  the  fact,  that  after  he  had  killed  "  James  the  brother  of 
John  with  the  sword,"  and  perceived  that  this  atrocity  " pleased 
the  people"  he  caused  Peter  to  be  apprehended,  with  the  in- 
tention of  destroying  him  also  after  the  Passover. 

The  leading  principle  of  Agrippa's  life  seems  to  have  been 
to  make  himself  agreeable  to  all  persons  whose  favor  was  or 
might  become  of  any  advantage  to  him.  It  was  now  his  in- 
terest to  stand  wrell  with  the  Jews,  and  he  knew  that  there 
was  no  way  so  conducive  to  this  end,  as  to  affect  a  zeal  for  the 
strict  observance  of  the  ancient  ritual,  though  on  many  occa- 
sions he  acted  contrary  to  it  in  order  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
the  Gentiles.  He  was,  in  fact,  a  complete  man  of  the  world  ; 
and,  as  such,  he  scrupled  not  to  make  the  passions  of  other 
men,  in  which  he  had  no  share,  and  their  prejudices,  which 
he  despised,  the  instruments  of  his  own  greatness.  How  it 
was  that  James  was  selected  for  the  first  victim  does  not  ap- 
pear ;  but  it  may  be  supposed  that  he  had  excited  the  anger 
of  the  Jewish  zealots  by  some  particular  act  or  discourse.  We 
must  not  forget,  however,  that  he  was  one  of  the  "  sons  of 
thunder ;"  and  the  qualities  which  rendered  that  designation 
appropriate,  would  be  likely  to  make  him  very  conspicuous 
among  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  and  render  him  a  mark  for 
the  enemies  of  the  Gospel.  That  he  wTas  "  slain  by  the  sword," 
would  seem  to  imply  that  he  was  sentenced  by  the  king  him- 
self, rather  than  by  the  usual  Jewish  court  of  orthodoxy, 
which  would  have  condemned  him  to  be  stoned ;  and  this 
"slaying  by  the  sword"  is  usually,  in  this  case,  interpreted  to 
mean  beheading ;  and  perhaps  rightly  so  at  this  period,  though 
under  the  Old  Testament  we  should  rather  regard  the  express- 


234  FORTY-SIXTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

ion  as  denoting  that  a  person  was  thrust  through  with  a 
sword.  There  is  a  tradition  concerning  the  death  of  James 
which  is  worthy  of  attention,  though  it  is  not  possible  to  say- 
how  far  it  may  be  relied  on.  It  is  cited  by  Eusebius,  in  his 
Ecclesiastical  History,  from  a  lost  work  by  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria. It  is,  that  the  officer  who  had  the  apostle  in  custody 
during  his  trial,  or,  as  some  say,  his  accuser,  was  convinced 
and  converted  by  his  demeanor  before  the  judgment  seat,  and 
having  confessed  Christ,  was  led  out  with  him  to  execution. 
On  the  way,  he  entreated  pardon  of  the  apostle.  The  latter 
thought  a  little  in  silence,  and  then  said :  "  Peace  be  with 
thee ;"  and  kissed  him.  Such  was  the  first  martyrdom  among 
the  apostles ;  and  thus  early,  to  him,  was  the  prediction  ful- 
filled, that  the  sons  of  Zebedee  should  drink  of  the  same  cup 
with  their  Lord,  and  be  baptized  with  the  same  baptism. 
There  is,  however,  something  touching  in  the  contrast  between 
the  two  brothers.  "  One  died  before  the  middle  of  the  first 
Christian  century  ;  the  other  lived  to  its  close.  One  died  just 
as  his  Master's  kingdom,  concerning  which  he  had  so  eagerly 
inquired,*  was  beginning  to  show  its  real  character  ;  he  prob- 
ably never  heard  the  word  '  Christian  '  pronounced.  Zebedee's 
other  son  remained  till  the  auti-christian  enemies  of  the  faith 
were  '  already  come,'f  and  was  laboring  against  them  when 
his  brother  had  been  fifty  years  at  rest  in  the  Lord."J  This 
James  was  one  of  the  three  apostles  whom  our  Lord  favored 
with  his  special  intimacy  and  confidence  ;  yet  he  scarcely  ap- 
pears individually  in  the  evangelical  history,  and  there  is  hard- 
ly any  one  of  the  apostles  concerning  whom  we  have  a  less  dis- 
tinct impression.  His  early  death — before  any  of  the  original 
apostles  had  travelled  out  of  Palestine — would  seem  to  exclude 
his  name  from  the  record  of  apostolic  missionary  labor.  Yet 
it  has  long  been  the  general  opinion  of  the  people  of  Spain 
that  he  planted  the  Gospel  in  that  country.  He  is  their  St. 
Jago.  But  the  alleged  fact  seems  so  impossible  from  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  and  is  so  unsupported  by  the  testi- 

*  Mark  x.  35-45 ;  Acts  i.  6.        f  1  John  ii.  18 ;  iv.  3  ;  2  John  1. 

%  Howson,  in  Life  of  St.  Paul,  i.  138. 


THE  PRAYING  CHURCH.  235 

monies  of  any  ancient  writer  of  credit,  that  the  notion  is  gen- 
erally abandoned  even  by  Roman  Catholic  writers  out  of  Spain. 
There  is  in  Jerusalem,  upon  Mount  Zion,  within  the  walls, 
the  Armenian  convent  of  St.  James  the  son  of  Zebedee.  It 
is  the  largest  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  place,  and  is 
capable  of  affording  accommodation  to  three  thousand  pil- 
grims. Here  is  a  fine  library,  agreeable  gardens,  the  most 
extensive  in  the  city,  and  a  church  larger  and  more  handsome 
than  any  other  in  Jerusalem.  The  building  is  supposed  to 
cover  the  site  of  St.  James'  martyrdom,  and  the  very  spot 
where  he  died  is  pointed  out.  It  was  in  the  eleventh  century 
that  a  monastery  was  first  built  over  the  spot.  But,  as  Mr. 
Williams  remarks,  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  tradition, 
which  is  not  very  ancient,  with  the  established  historical  fact, 
that  the  executions  of  the  ancients  took  place  without  the 
gates.* 


.forts- Senentl)  toeek— Stmcas- 

THE  PRAYING  CHURCH. ACTS.  XII.  5. 

We  have  seen  that  Peter  was  cast  into  prison,  with  the 
known  intention  of  Herod  Agrippa  that  he  should  be  taken 
from  it  only  to  his  death.  We  may  readily  conceive  the  deep 
concern  of  the  believers  in  Jerusalem  at  this  event,  and  at  the 
threatened  addition  to  the  loss  they  had  already  sustained. 
And  what  did  they  under  these  circumstances  ?  Did  they  not 
move  heaven  and  earth  for  his  deliverance  ?  They  sought  to 
move  heaven ;  and  left  it  to  heaven  to  move  the  earth.  They 
were  of  that  plain,  right-minded  people  who  deemed  that  both 
the  surest  and  readiest  course  of  proceeding  for  the  attainment 
of  any  object  was  to  go  direct,  and  first  of  all,  to  him  who 
holds  all  the  elements,  and  all  the  interests,  and  hearts,  and 
lives  of  men  in  his  hands.  We  therefore  read  of  nothing  that 
*  Holy  City,  i.  suppl.  p.  23 ;  ii.  559,  560. 


236  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

they  did,  but  that  "  prayer  was  made  without  ceasing  of  the 
Church  unto  God  for  him." 

In  the  first  place  it  might  be  asked,  what  possible  use  could 
there  be  of  prayer  in  such  a  case  as  this  ?  Here  was  Peter  in 
a  strung  and  well-guarded  prison,  chained  to  soldiers  conscious 
of  his  slightest  movements,  and  reserved  for  death  by  a  tyrant 
not  likely  to  be  moved  from  his  purpose  by  any  influence  that 
could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him.  There  never  was  a  man 
in  a  case,  deliverance  from  which  could  seem  more  of  a  moral 
and  even  physical  impossibility.  Yet  the  believers,  though 
they  knew  all  this,  prayed  not  the  less  earnestly  and  hopefully 
for  him.    Prayer,  like  faith,  of  which  prayer  is  the  expression — 

"  Laughs  at  impossibilities, 
And  cries,  'It  shall  be  done !' " 

"  The  first  Christians  were  persuaded  that  nothing  is  impos- 
sible to  him  that  believes,  because  nothing  is  impossible  to 
God.  Daniel  was  preserved  in  a  den  of  Lions,  and  the  three 
Jewish  confessors  in  the  midst  of  a  fiery  furnace.  God  could 
bend  the  heart  of  the  tyrant  to  mercy,  or  defeat  his  purpose 
by  his  sudden  death,  or  incline  the  people  to  intercede  for  the 
life  of  his  servant,  or  deliver  him  by  a  miracle.  They  did  not 
limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  and  say,  (  How  can  this  thing 
be  V  Reflecting  on  his  power,  they  overlooked  the  obstacles 
to  the  answer  of  their  prayers,  and  being  strong  in  faith,  gave 
glory  to  God."* 

It  may  be  that  the  Lord  permitted  that  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances which  rendered  the  release  of  Peter  impossible  to 
any  human  means  or  influence,  in  order  that  the  believers 
might  look  entirely  to  Him  for  the  deliverance  of  Peter  ;  and 
that  this  deliverance,  being  granted  solely  by  his  power  and 
in  manifest  answer  to  their  prayers,  might  strengthen  their 
faith,  and  recover  them  from  any  discouragement  the  loss  of 
James  had  occasioned,  by  assuring  them  that,  although  he  had 
been  taken  from  them,  their  interests  wTere  not  un watched,  nor 
their  safety  unguarded  ;  and  that  James  had  not  died  becai?  <j 
*  Dick's  Lectures  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


THE  PRAYING  CHURCH.  237 

his  Lord  could  not  have  delivered  him  had  He  seen  fit  to  do 
so  ;  but  because  it  was,  for  good  reasons  of  his  own,  his  will 
that  his  servant  should  be  called  home.  We  cannot  doubt 
that  the  Lord's  hand  was  in  that  postponement  of  Peter's  ex- 
ecution, which  afforded  the  opportunity  for  the  fervent  prayers 
of  the  Church  to  be  offered  on  his  behalf,  in  order  that  the 
deliverance,  when  it  came,  might  be  felt  as  an  answer  to  those 
prayers.  The  Lord  likes  to  be  asked  for  his  mercies,  be- 
cause by  asking  we  evince  the  fervency  of  our  desires,  and 
acknowledge  our  dependence  upon  Him  for  them.  Asking- 
is  indeed  one  of  the  conditions  of  receiving.  He  has  not 
promised  to  give  to  those  that  need,  but  to  those  that  "  ask." 
He  has  not  promised  that  those  who  want  shall  "  find,"  but 
those  who  "  seek."  He  has  not  undertaken  to  open  his  door 
to  those  who  loiter  around  it,  but  to  those  who  "  knock." 

The  prayer  which  evinces  its  earnestness  by  its  fervency  and 
perseverance  is  the  only  real  prayer,  and  it  is  the  only  prayer 
God  has  pledged  himself  to  heed.  Such  prayer  He  never  re- 
fuses, unless  He  knows  that  it  would  be  injurious,  or  not  good 
to  grant  it.  Yet  it  is  so  difficult  for  Him  as  a  Father  to  pain 
his  children,  by  refusing  such  prayers  when  offered  to  Him, 
that  He  seems  often  to  exclude  the  opportunity  of  being  asked 
for  that  which  he  does  not  mean  to  grant ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  so  agreeable  to  Him  to  grant  their  requests,  that 
He  often  provides  the  opportunity  for  being  asked  for  that 
w7hich  He  designs  to  bestow.  Both  considerations  seem  to 
have  operated  here.  James  seems  to  have  been  taken  away 
somewhat  suddenly,  before  the  Church  could  offer  its  prayers 
on  his  behalf ;  while  the  doom  of  Peter  was  postponed  that 
prayer  might  be  offered  for  him. 

Indeed,  as  Scott  remarks,  "  When  time  is  given  for  prayer, 
and  when,  as  in  this  case,  the  opportunity  for  prayer  is  given, 
and  great  numbers  are  excited  up  to  join  in  it,  as  with  one 
heart  and  soul,  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  indication  that  God 
intends  to  grant  their  desires." 

As  the  answer  to  the  prayer  of  the  Church  was  the  deliver- 
ance of  Peter,  his  deliverance  wa9  probably  what  the  Church 


238  FORTV-SEVEXTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

prayed  for.  This  might  not  appear  absolutely  from  the  ex- 
pression that  they  prayed  "for  him."  Nor,  doubtless,  did 
they  pray  foi  his  deliverance  alone  ;  but  that  the  Divine  pres- 
ence might  be  with  him,  strengthening  him  in  his  prison- 
house,  and  that,  if  not  previously  delivered,  he  might  "  witness 
a  good  confession"  before  Herod's  judgment-seat.  Even  the 
prayer  for  his  deliverance  was  assuredly  conditional;  no 
effectual  prayer  can  be  otherwise,  so  long  as  those  who  ask 
do  not  certainly  know  what  is  absolutely  best,  while  He  who  is 
asked  knows  it  well.  Such  must  be  all  our  own  prayers  ;  and 
God  often  grants  our  prayers  most  effectually  by  denying  us 
the  exact  thing  we  ask — 

"  What  may  conduce 
To  my  most  healthful  use, 
Almighty  God !  me  grant ; 

But  that  or  this 

That  hurtful  is 
Deny  thy  suppliant." — Heerick. 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

PETER  IN  PRISON. ACTS  XII.  4-1 7. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  apostles  had  formerly  been 
delivered  from  prison — probably  from  the  same  prison  in 
which  Peter  was  now  confined.  We  may  suppose  that  it  was 
the  remembrance  of  this  by  the  Jews,  and  their  mention  of 
it  to  Herod,  that  caused  the  latter  to  take  extraordinary  care  in 
securing  the  prisoner.  He  was  assigned  to  the  custody  of  "  four 
quaternions  of  soldiers,"  and  he  was  bound  with  two  chains. 
A  quaternion  was  a  picket  of  four  soldiers,  and  four  of  these 
made  sixteen  men.  Each  picket  of  four  men  was  to  take  in 
turn  the  duty  of  watching  the  apostle,  two  at  the  doors,  and 
two  chained  to  him.  It  was  not  usual  to  chain  a  prisoner  to 
more  than  one  soldier,  and  thus  Herod  Agrippa  himself  had 


PETER    IN    PRISON.  239 

been  chained  at  Rome,  and  hereafter  we  shall  see  Saul  him- 
self so  chained  in  the  same  city.  When  two  chains  were  em- 
ployed, as  in  the  case  before  us,  one  end  of  the  chain  was 
fastened  to  the  right  arm  of  the  prisoner,  and  the  other  end 
of  it  to  the  left  arm  of  one  of  the  soldiers ;  and  in  like  man- 
ner the  other  chain  was  fastened  to  the  left  arm  of  the  pris- 
oner and  the  right  arm  of  the  other  soldier.  It  is  difficult  to 
see  how  a  prisoner  could  be  more  completely  secured  than 
Peter  thus  was,  or  how  his  escape  could  by  any  means  be 
rendered  less  possible,  shut  up  as  he  was  in  a  strong  prison, 
the  gates  of  which  were  not  only  locked  and  barred,  but 
guarded  by  sentinels,  and  his  person  being  besides  attached  to 
living  men,  who  would  hear  and  feel  his  slightest  movement. 
But  the  walls  were  never  built,  the  chains  never  forged,  the 
guards  never  breathed,  that  could  hold  in  bondage  him  whom 
God  willed  to  be  free.     So  it  proved  now. 

The  passover  week  had  already  ended;  and  it  was  the 
night  before  the  morning  in  which  Peter  was  to  be  led  to  his 
death  that  the  deliverance  was  effected.  But  the  prospect  that 
seemed  before  him  troubled  not  the  apostle,  and  he  lay  between 
the  two  soldiers  to  whom  he  was  chained,  enjoying  that  sweet 
sleep  which  God  gives  to  his  beloved.  To  die  in  his  Lord's 
cause  and  for  the  honor  of  His  name,  was  not  a  doom  to  cause 
any  dismay  or  unrest  to  him  who,  when  far  less  enlightened, 
and  possessed  of  a  far  less  distinctly  realized  sense  of  his 
Lord's  love  to  him,  had  declared  to  Jesus,  "  I  will  lay  down 
my  life  for  thy  sake."  It  may  be,  however,  that  he  enter- 
tained a  conviction  that  it  would  be  the  Lord's  pleasure  to  in- 
terpose in  some  way,  even  if  at  the  last  moment,  for  his  re- 
lease. He  had  grounds  for  such  a  conviction :  He  could  not 
but  remember  the  last  words  which  his  risen  Lord  had  ad- 
dressed to  him  personally ;  and  these  words  assured  him,  that 
although  he  was  destined  to  seal  with  his  blood  his  testimony 
for  Christ,  it  would  not  be  till  he  was  old,  and  by  a  form  of 
death  not  at  this  time  (since  it  was  no  longer  a  Roman  prov- 
ince) in  use  in  Judea.  "  When  thou  wast  young  thou  girded- 
est  thyself,  and  wentest  whither  thou  wouldest;  but  when 


240  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thy  hands,  and 
another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldest 
not."  This  clearly  points  to  death  by  crucifixion.  Indeed  it 
was  so  understood,  for  the  Evangelist  who  records  the  circum- 
stances adds :  "  This  spake  He,  signifying  by  ivhat  death  he 
should  glorify  God."     John  xxi.  18,  19. 

As  Peter  thus  lay  in  sleep,  an  angel  of  the  Lord  entered 
the  prison,  and  filled  it  with  the  light  of  his  presence.  A 
sudden  access  of  light  usually  rouses  a  man  from  sleep.  But 
the  apostle's  repose  was  too  sound  to  be  thus  disturbed.  The 
angel  therefore  smote  him  on  the  side  to  arouse  him.  He 
then  awoke ;  and  before  he  could  recover  his  surprise  or  collect 
his  ideas,  and  perhaps  before  he  could  see  distinctly,  the  angel's 
voice  bade  him  "  Rise  up,  quickly ;"  and  as  the  words  were 
uttered,  he  felt  the  chains,  which  bound  him  to  the  soldiers, 
fall  from  his  hands.  The  Orientals,  when  they  go  to  rest,  do 
not  undress  fully  as  we  do ;  or  rather,  do  not  change  their 
dress — they  simply  loosen  their  girdle,  and  lay  aside  their 
outer  garment.  Peter  had  done  this ;  and  the  angel  seeing 
him  still  confused  and  amazed,  directed  him  to  fasten  his  girdle 
and  put  on  his  cloak,  and  also  to  bind  on  his  sandals.  The 
latter  direction  intimated  that  he  was  to  leave  the  place,  as  the 
Orientals  only  use  their  shoes  or  sandals  when  they  leave  their 
apartments.  Accordingly,  when  this  was  done,  the  angel  bade 
Peter  follow  him.  So  they  passed  on  ;  and  when  they  came 
to  the  outermost  gate,  which  was  strengthened  with  iron,  it 
flew  open  of  its  own  accord,  and  the  two  passed  into  the  street. 
The  angel  then  disappeared.  All  this  took  but  a  few  moments, 
and  Peter,  still  confused,  deemed  all  that  was  passing  to  be  a 
vision  or  a  dream.  But  the  brisk  night  air  soon  brought  him 
to  complete  recollection ;  and  he  perceived  that  his  deliver- 
ance was  real.  "  Now  I  know  of  a  surety,"  he  said,  "  that  the 
Lord  hath  sent  his  angel  and  delivered  me  out  oft  he  hand  of 
Herod,  and  from  the  expectation  of  the  Jews."  As  he  walked 
on  considering  this  matter,  he  reached  the  nearest  house  occu- 
pied by  a  disciple.  This  disciple  was  Mary — "  the  mother  of 
John,  whose  surname  was  Mark" — or  rather,  who  was  called 


PETER    IN    PRISON.  241 

Mark,  for  the  Jews  had  no  surnames ;  but  many  had  two 
names,  one  by  which  they  were  known  among  the  Jews,  and 
the  other  among  the  Greeks  or  Romans,  This  was  very 
necessary  for  those  who  dwelt  with  or  among  them,  or  had 
any  intercourse  with  them  ;  for  they  were  curiously  averse  to 
,e  troubled  with  the  utterance  of  Hebrew  proper  names, 
whether  places  or  persons ;  and  it  was  therefore  needful  to  a 
Jew,  even  for  his  own  comfort,  that  he  should  adopt  some  name 
which  they  were  familiar  with  and  could  readily  pronounce. 
In  the  present  instance  the  John  also  called  Mark,  was  prob- 
ably Mark  the  Evangelist ;  but  this  is  not  altogether  certain. 

Peter  paused  before  the  door  of  Mary's  house.  In  that 
house  there  were  many  believers  assembled,  late  as  it  was,  for 
prayer — and  their  prayers  were  doubtless  for  him.  He  was  to 
die  the  next  day  ;  and  while  he  had  slept,  very  many  remained 
awake  in  prayer  to  God  in  his  behalf.  The  case  seemed  to 
become  more  hopeless  as  the  last  hour  of  possible  deliverance 
approached,  yet  they  relaxed  not  in  fervency  of  prayer ;  for 
when  hope  has,  perhaps  unconsciously,  abated,  the  trained 
spiritual  mind  persists  in  prayer,  because  only  in  that  inter- 
course with  God  can  it  find  adequate  support  and  relief. 

Peter  knocked  at  the  door.  He  knocked  with  his  staff 
probably ;  for  there  are  no  knockers,  far  less  bells,  to  Eastern 
doors.  He  was  heard  within  ;  and  a  girl  soon  came  to  the 
gate.  The  girl's  name  was  Rhoda,  which  is  Greek  for  rose — 
another  instance  of  the  pleasant  practice  of  giving  to  females 
the  names  of  flowers.  At  that  late  hour  Rhoda  would  not 
open  the  door  till  she  knew  who  it  was  that  applied  for  admit- 
tance ;  and  when  she  heard  that  it  was  Peter,  and  recognized 
his  well-known  voice,  the  girl,  by  a  natural  impulse,  rushed 
in  to  tell  the  joyful  news  without  opening  the  gate.  How  far 
expectation  had  become  depressed,  is  shown  by  the  persistent 
incredulity  with  which  they  received  the  tidings  which  Rhoda 
with  so  much  eager  joy  imparted.  They  told  her  she  was 
mad  ;  and  when  she  still  affirmed  the  fact,  they  said,  "  Then 
it  is  his  angel."  What  did  they  mean  by  that  ?  This  is  not 
perfectly  clear.     Some  think  that  as  "  angel"  means  a  "  messen- 

VOL.  iv.  11 


242  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

ger,"  in  which  sense  it  is  often  used  both  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  they  meant  to  say,  that  some  messenger  had 
come  from  Peter,  and  that  he  had  used  his  name  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  lead  the  girl,  in  her  haste,  to  suppose  that  it  was 
Peter  himself.  Others  suppose,  that  they  fancied  it  was  the 
apostle's  ghost  or  spirit ;  from  which  they  might  have  inferred 
that  he  had  already  been  put  to  death — probably  that  night 
in  his  prison,  as  John  the  Baptist  had  been.  But  it  is  more 
generally  conceived  that  they  supposed  it  to  be  his  guardian 
angel,  who  had  taken  the  form  and  voice  of  Peter,  in  order  to 
comfort  them  for  his  loss,  or  supposing  that  he  yet  lived,  to  in- 
cite them  to  renewed  fervency  of  prayer  on  his  behalf.  We 
know  that  it  was  the  prevalent  belief  of  the  Jews  that  every 
one  had  assigned  to  him  at  his  birth  an  angel,  whose  office  it 
was  to  guard  and  defend  him  through  life — to  incite  him  to 
good,  and  to  deter  him  from  evil.  How  far  this  notion  may 
be  true  we  need  not  now  inquire ;  and  as  it  cannot  be  shown 
to  be  true  from  Scripture,  we  are  not  bound  to  receive  it  mere- 
ly because  it  may  appear  to  have  been  entertained  by  persons 
brought  up  in  Judaism. 

However,  by  this  time,  Peter  had  become  a  little  impatient 
of  his  detention  outside  the  gate — which  also  might  have  been 
dangerous  to  him.  He,  therefore,  resumed  his  knocking. 
They  then  ventured  to  go  and  open  the  gate ;  and  when  they 
saw  that  it  was  really  Peter,  their  astonishment  and  joy  were 
both  beyond  measure  great.  It  was  also  loud  in  its  expression  ; 
but  Peter,  to  whom  every  moment  was  precious,  held  up  his 
hand  to  beckon  for  silence.  He  then  recited  to  them  how  it 
was  that  the  Lord  had  brought  him  out  of  prison  ;  and  request- 
ing them  to  report  these  particulars  to  the  surviving  James 
and  to  the  brethren  at  large,  he  took  his  departure.  "  He 
went  to  another  place,"  where  he  might  for  the  time  be  more 
safe.  Where  he  went  we  know  not.  The  Roman  Catholics 
suppose  that  he  went  to  Rome ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  for 
this,  nor  does  it  seem  at  all  likely  at  this  time,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  case  at  a  later  period. 


PETER    IN    PRISON.  243 

FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

DEATH  OF  HEROD  AGRIPPA. ACTS  XII.  20-24. 

There  was  great  consternation  in  the  prison  the  next  morn- 
ing, when  it  was  found  that  Peter  was  absent.  It  would  seem 
as  if  the  guard  had  been  thrown  into  a  deep  sleep,  seeing  that 
they  had  not  been  awakened  by  any  of  the  circumstances  that 
occurred ;  for  had  they  been  cognizant  of  them,  but  passive 
through  terror,  they  would  not  have  been  so  much  surprised 
"  as  soon  as  it  was  day."  Herod  was  in  much  wrath  when 
he  heard  that,  notwithstanding  the  precautions  he  had  direct- 
ed to  be  taken,  the  apostle  had  disappeared.  He  caused  a 
diligent  search  to  be  made  for  him ;  and  when  no  trace  of 
him  could  be  found,  he  examined  the  soldiers ;  and  finding 
that  they  could  not,  or,  as  he  perhaps  supposed,  would  not, 
throw  any  light  on  the  matter,  he  ordered  that  they  should  be 
put  to  death.  It  was  in  ancient  times  very  generally  regard- 
ed as  a  capital  offence  for  those  to  whose  charge  a  prisoner 
was  entrusted  to  suffer  him  to  escape ;  and  it  must  have  seem- 
ed clear  that  in  this  case  the  guards  had  either  slept  upon 
their  post,  or  had  been  consenting  parties  to  the  escape.  Her- 
od wras  probably  the  more  induced  to  enforce  this  penalty,  for 
the  purpose  of  conveying  the  impression  that  the  soldiers  had 
aided  in  the  escape  of  Peter. 

Herod  then  proceeded  to  Caesarea,  which  had  become  the 
political  metropolis  of  the  country  since  the  great  works  and 
public  buildings  which  his  grandfather  had  founded  there. 
Soon  after  his  arrival,  a  grand  commemoration  was,  held  in 
honor  of  the  emperor.  The  precise  occasion  we  do  not  know. 
Some  suppose  it  was  in  honor  of  his  birth-day ;  others  that  it 
was  to  celebrate  his  return  from  Britain.  There  was,  on  this 
occasion,  a  large  concourse  of  the  great  and  noble  to  Caesarea  ; 
and  the  theatre,  built  by  the  elder  Herod,  must  have  presented 
a  splendid  appearance  when  the  stone  seats,  rising  tier  above 
tier  in  the  open  air,  were  lined  with  persons  arrayed  in  the 


244  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK— TUESDAY. 

gorgeous  vestures  of  the  East.  Here  the  usual  games  were 
celebrated,  such  as  gladiatorial  combats  and  the  like.  Herod 
Agrippa  had  contracted  at  Rome  a  taste  for  these  savage  sports, 
and  had  introduced  them  into  Judea.  Joseph  us  mentions, 
that  on  one  occasion  he  had,  at  Berytus,  given  no  fewer  than 
seven  hundred  pairs  of  men  to  fight  in  these  mortal  combats  ; 
thus,  as  the  historian  approvingly  remarks,  using  up  his  male- 
factors in  such  a  manner  that,  by  the  very  act  of  getting  rid 
of  them,  he  made  them  subservient  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
people.  The  stricter  Jews,  however,  had  a  creditable  dislike 
to  these  sports.  But  there  were  many  more  accommodating 
in  this  respect ;  and  in  such  places  as  Caesarea,  where  a  very 
large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  inhabitants  were 
Greeks,  there  never  was  want  of  spectators  to  fill  the  theatre. 

On  the  second  day  Herod  appeared  in  the  theatre,  attired 
with  extraordinary  splendor,  as  it  was  his  intention,  before  the 
games  of  the  day  commenced,  to  give  audience  to  ambassadors 
from  Tyre  and  Sidon.  These  anciently  renowned  and  still 
thriving  cities  were  not  in  the  king's  own  territory,  but  enjoy- 
ed some  share  of  independence  under  the  Romans.  As  their 
domains  were  small,  and  all  their  attention  was  given  to  manu- 
factures and  commerce,  they  depended  almost  entirely  upon 
Herod's  territory  for  the  requisite  supplies  of  corn  and  other 
agricultural  produce,  their  country  being  in  fact,  as  the  sacred 
historian  remarks,  "  nourished  by  the  king's  country."  It  was 
therefore  of  the  utmost  importance  to  them  that  they  should 
be  on  good  terms  with  him.  But  they  had,  from  some  cause 
or  other,  incurred  his  deep  displeasure ;  and  to  put  an  end  to 
the  evils  thus  threatened  or  incurred,  they  repaired  to  Caesarea, 
where  having  first  of  all  made  Blastus,  the  king's  chamberlain, 
their  friend,  doubtless  by  means  of  a  handsome  douceur,  for 
that  has  always  been  the  way  of  the  East,  they  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  public  audience,  and  of  composing  their  differ- 
ence with  him. 

Josephus  informs  us  that  the  king's  dress  on  this  day  was 
of  silver  tissue,  which  shone  most  effulgently  in  the  morning 
sun.    This  effulgence  was  probably  heightened  by  numerous 


DEATH  OF  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  245 

splendid  jewels.  At  this  day,  as  in  ancient  days,  the  kings 
of  Persia  appoint,  for  the  reception  of  ambassadors,  such  an 
hour  as,  according  to  the  season  or  the  situation  of  the  in- 
tended room  of  audience,  will  best  enable  them  to  display  in 
full  sunshine  the  dazzling  brilliancy  of  their  jewelled  dresses ; 
and  it  is  on  record,  that  the  title,  "  He  was  of  resplendent 
raiment,"  was  added  to  the  name  of  one  monarch,  because, 
on  some  high  festival,  his  regal  ornaments,  glittering  in  the 
sun's  rays,  so  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  beholders,  that  they  could 
scarcely  endure  the  refulgence,  and  some  courtiers  professed 
their  inability  to  distinguish  betwen  the  person  of  the  mon- 
arch and  the  great  luminary  of  the  day. 

Arrayed  in  such  "  royal  attire,"  Herod  took  his  place  upon 
his  high  seat  in  the  theatre.  He  proceeded  to  make  a  speech, 
probably  in  the  matter  of  the  Tyrian  embassy ;  and  just  as  he 
concluded,  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  played  upon  his  dress, 
and  gave  to  his  person  a  most  dazzling  appearance.  Upon 
this,  the  heathen  courtiers,  of  whom  there  were  many  pres- 
ent, and  probable  the  Tyrian  ambassadors  prominently,  raised 
a  shout,  hailing  him  as  a  god !  This  idea  was  not  unfamiliar 
to  the  heathen  mind.  In  the  Greek  mythology  we  read  of 
many  mortals  raised  to  divinities  after  their  death.  Among 
the  Greek  kingdoms  of  the  East  it  was  also  not  unusual  for  a 
sovereign  to  cause  divine  honors  to  be  rendered  to  his  prede- 
cessor ;  and  among  the  Romans  nearly  all  the  emperors  were 
thus  deified,  as  well  as  many  of  their  wives  and  female  rela- 
tives. There  are  medals  extant  commemorating  the  names 
of  sixty  persons  who  received  the  honors  of  deification  be- 
tween the  times  of  Julius  Csesar  and  Constantine  the  Great, 
when  the  custom  ceased.  There  are  also  sculptures  symbol- 
izing the  fact  of  deification,  or  representing  its  ceremonies. 
In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  curious  sculptured  tablet, 
representing  the  apotheosis  of  Homer.  For  persons  to  re- 
ceive divine  honors  during  life  was  less  common,  but  not  ab- 
solutely rare.  Very  lately  we  saw  Caligula  claiming  worship 
as  a  god  ;  formerly  Mark  Antony  had  assumed  in  Egypt  the 
character  of  Osiris ;  Alexander  the  Great  had  also  affected  to 


246  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK — TUESDAY. 

be  a  god ;  and  the  Scripture  history  records  the  fact,  that 
Darius  was  prevailed  upon  to  be  a  god  for  a  month.  (Dan. 
vi.  7.)  Indeed,  the  manner  in  which  Herod  Agrippa  accepted 
this  profane  adulation,  reminds  one  of  the  poet's  description 
of  Alexander  under  the  like  circumstances — 

"  •  A  present  deity  !'  they  shout  around  : 

" '  A  present  deity  !'  the  vaulted  roofs  rebound. 

With  ravished  ears 

The  monarch  hears, 

Assumes  the  god, 

Affects  the  nod, 
And  seems  to  shake  the  spheres." 

In  like  manner  the  King  of  Judea  accepted  this  homage,  or 
at  least  did  not  repel  it,  though,  as  a  Jew,  he  ought  to  have 
repelled  it  with  horror  and  indignation.  Of  all  who  ever  ac- 
cepted such  adulation,  none  was  so  guity  as  Herod ;  for  he 
knew  the  truth — that  there  was  but  one  God,  the  creator  of 
heaven  and  earth  ;  and  that  he  was  a  very  jealous  God,  and 
would  not  give  his  glory  to  another.  Of  this  he  was  instantly 
reminded,  for  "  immediately  the  angel  of  God  smote  him,  be- 
cause he  gave  not  God  the  glory."  It  may  be  that  the  rays 
of  the  sun,  which  by  shining  upon  his  raiment,  did,  in  con- 
junction with  the  eloquent  beneficence  of  his  speech,  call  forth 
this  blasphemous  adulation,  were,  in  the  shape  of  a  sun-stroke, 
made  the  appropriate  instrument  of  his  punishment.  He  was 
seized  with  horrid  torments  in  the  intestines ;  and  he  who  had 
just  been  greeted  as  a  god,  was  borne  forth,  in  all  his  splendid 
raiment,  amid  groans,  and  cries,  and  tears,  declaring  that  he. 
had  received  the  death-stroke,  and  acknowledging  the  hand 
of  God  in  his  punishment.  He  survived  five  days  in  extreme 
torture,  being  "  eaten  of  worms,"  and  then  died  of  that  horrid 
and  loathsome  death,  which,  as  we  formerly  showed,*  has  so 
peculiarly  been  the  doom  of  tyrannous  persecuters  and  blas- 
phemers, as  if  to  show  what  weapons  the  Lord  had  reserved 
with  which  to  bring  down  into  the  very  dust  the  loftiness  of 
the  most  proud. 

*  Evening  Series,  Thirty-First  Week,  Sunday. 


EAR- JESUS.  247 

We  have  combined,  in  this  account  of  Herod's  death,  the 
statements  of  St.  Luke  and  of  Josephus.  There  is  a  remarkable 
agreement  between  them,  although  Luke,  in  his  more  concise 
statement,  omits  some  circumstances  which  Josephus,  in  his 
more  full  account,  supplies,  and  which  fit  very  well  into  the 
shorter  narrative.  Thus  both  agree  that  his  disease  was  of  the 
intestines ;  but  Josephus  says  nothing  of  the  worms,  while  Luke, 
as  a  physician,  naturally  notices  the  cause  as  well  as  the  fact 
of  the  tortures  Herod  endured.  Both  also  agree  that  the  real 
cause  of  his  death  was  his  acceptance  of  divine  honors ;  for 
although  Josephus  was  tender  of  the  memory  of  this  king, 
and  gives  a  more  favorable  character  of  him  than  is  warranted 
by  the  facts  he  records,  he  was  too  good  a  Jew  to  suppress  or 
disguise  this  circumstance,  which,  indeed  was  acknowledged 
by  Herod's  own  conscience,  and  was  known  to  all  the  people. 

Still  Herod  was  not,  as  times  went,  a  bad  ruler ;  and  in  the 
apprehension  that  a  worse  condition  of  affairs  might  ensue, 
his  demise  was  deeply  lamented  by  his  subjects.  The  Chris- 
tians, however,  had  no  cause  to  deplore  his  death ;  and  it 
must  not  escape  remark,  that  the  sacred  historian,  after  record- 
ing that  Herod  "  gave  up  the  ghost,"  emphatically  adds,  "  But 
the  word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied." 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

BAR-JESUS. ACTS  XIII.   1-8. 

Barnbas  and  Saul  having  fulfilled  their  commission  at 
Jerusalem,  returned  to  Antioch,  taking  with  them  that  John, 
otherwise  called  Mark,  the  house  of  whose  mother,  Mary,  was 
first  visited  by  Peter  on  his  deliverance  from  prison.  Mark 
was  nephew  to  Barnabas,  and  as  his  father  seems  to  have  been 
dead,  the  care  of  him  necessarily  devolved  upon  his  uncle,  who 
probably  wished  to  introduce  the  young  man  into  the  labors 
of  the  Gospel  under  his  own  eye,  with  probably  an  ultericr 


248  FORTF-SEVENTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

intention  of  making  him  acquainted  with  his  relations  in 
Cyprus. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  from  this  time  forward,  the  sacred 
historian  confines  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  proceedings 
of  Saul. 

Soon  after  their  return,  it  was  intimated  to  the  Chuch  at  An- 
tioch  by  the  Spirit,  on  a  day  which  had  been  set  apart  for 
prayer  and  fasting,  that  Saul  and  Barnabas  were  to  go  forth 
upon  a  missionary  expedition.  They  were  accordingly  set 
apart  for  this  service ;  and  we  soon  find  them,  still  accompa- 
nied by  Mark,  proceeding  down  the  Orontes,  unless  they  pre- 
ferred the  shorter  route  by  land  to  Seleucia,  which  was  lately 
mentioned  as  the  port  of  Antioch.  They  went  to  Seleucia  in 
order  to  take  passage  for  the  island  of  Cyprus,  which,  in  a 
clear  day,  is  visible  from  this  place,  and  with  a  fair  wind 
might  be  reached  in  a  few  hours.  They  landed  at  Salamis, 
which  had  formerly,  under  the  Greeks,  been  the  metropolis  of 
the  island,  and  was  still  its  chief  port  and  commercial  town, 
though  the  seat  of  government  seems  to  have  been  removed 
to  Paphos,  at  its  opposite  extremity.  There,  and  throughout 
this  journey,  it  seems  that  the  Gospel  was  only  preached  in 
the  Jewish  synagogues ;  and  indeed  it  appears  to  have  been 
the  general  practice  to  make  to  the  Jews  the  first  offer  of  its 
blessings.  As  a  maritime  commercial  town,  the  Jews  prob- 
ably formed  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  of  Salamis. 

From  Salamis  the  apostles  travelled  the  whole  length  of 
the  island  to  Paphos,  a  place  famous  for  its  splendid  temple  to 
Venus,  who  was  worshipped  throughout  the  island,  whence 
her  designation  of  "  Cyprian  goddess,"  and  "  Paphian  goddess." 
Here  was  the  seat  of  the  Roman  governor,  who  at  this  time 
was  Sergius  Paulus,  described  as  "  a  prudent,"  or  rather,  "  an 
intelligent  or  open-minded  man."  Notwithstanding  this,  he 
had  given  his  confidence  to  a  Jewish  impostor,  named  Bat- 
jesus,  who  had  taken  upon  him  the  Arabian  title  of  Elymas, 
magian,  or  ivise  man.  This  title,  originally,  and  then  still 
properly,  applicable  to  sages,  learned  men,  and  philosophers, 
was  also  affected  by  charlatans  and  pretenders  to  occult  knowl- 


HAR-JESU3.  249 

edge,  just  as,  at  this  day,  quacks  in  medicine  call  themselves 
by  the  goodly  names  of  "doctors"  and  "professors."  The 
term  is  hence  used  in  a  good,  an  indifferent,  or  a  bad  sense  in 
Scripture,  just  as,  even  in  our  own  language,  "  a  wise  man," 
which  is  the  highest  of  characters,  does  also,  in  a  popular  ac- 
ceptation, denote  a  fortune-teller — one  who  professes  by  his  arts 
to  be  able  to  disclose  hidden  things.  This  latter  sense  seems 
to  be  reflected  from  that  of  wizard  (wise-ard),  a  word  of  sim- 
ilarly equivocal  import  with  that  of  "  wise  man,"  and  together 
illustrating  well  the  indefinite  sense  of  the  term  magus,  which, 
in  both  senses,  has  exactly  the  same  meaning.  The  Scriptural 
sense  is  usually  indicated  by  the  context ;  and  in  the  present 
instance  the  bad  sense  appears  from  the  fact  that  Bar-jesus  is 
expressly  designated  as  a  "  false  prophet." 

But  it  may  well  be  asked  how  a  man  of  this  sort  could  ac- 
quire such  influence  and  close  connection,  as  Bar-jesus  possess- 
ed, with  a  Roman  of  the  rank  and  character  of  Sergius  Paulus  ? 

To  explain  this,  it  is  necessay  to  point  out  that  such  hold 
upon  the  Gentile  mind,  as  the  old  systems  of  heathen  philos- 
ophy, and  the  old  customs  of  heathen  belief,  may  have  once 
possessed,  had  at  this  time  been  broken  up,  for  all  practical 
uses  of  comfort  or  confidence,  and  a  general  disbelief  and  un- 
rest pervaded  the  public  thought.  Cast  adrift  from  their  old 
stays,  which  gave  way  before  the  pressure  of  advancing  intel- 
ligence and  cultivation,  the  minds  of  men  floated  listlessly 
upon  the  dark  waters  of  scepticism,  or  sank  in  sullen  despair 
into  their  depths.  But  it  was  not  thus  with  all.  Very  many 
minds,  still  craving  for  the  rest  not  to  be  found  at  home,  sought 
it  among  foreign  gods,  and  occult  rites,  and  fertile  superstitions ; 
and  since  the  ancient  oracles  were  dumb,  they  sought  light  for 
their  feet  in  the  astrologies,  the  necromancies,  the  soothsayings, 
the  various  strange  and  marvellous  beliefs  and  systems  offered 
in  large  profusion  by  the  prolific  East,  so  recently  opened  up 
to  Western  knowledge  by  the  Roman  conquests  and  consoli- 
dations. Hence  the  writings  of  this  period  abound  in  painful 
disclosures  of  the  most  deadening  scepticism,  and  the  most 
lurid  superstition — not  always  separated,  but  often  united  in 

11* 


250  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

the  same  individuals :  for  let  men  say  what  they  will,  and  how- 
ever great  may  seem  the  contradiction,  scepticism  has  always 
been  more  superstitious  than  faith.  In  this  state  of  things 
grew  up  a  number  of  impostors  and  pretenders,  of  various 
descriptions  and  qualities  suited  to  all  classes  of  people,  who 
swarmed  in  all  the  chief  places  of  human  concourse.  The 
East  poured  them  forth  in  abundance,  avenging  its  conquest 
by  material  arms  by  enslaving  the  minds  of  the  conquerors. 
Palestine  claimed  its  share  of  the  prey.  Very  many  runagate 
Jews,  trading  in  the  reputation  of  their  ancient  prophets,  came 
forth  as  foretellers  of  things  to  come,  and  disclosers  of  myste- 
ries. And  these  too  were  of  all  sorts — from  the  grave  and 
scholarly  persons  who,  like  Bar-jesus,  made  emperors  and  pro- 
consuls their  prey ;  down  to  the  gipsy  like  Jewess  who  whis- 
pers in  the  ear  of  the  Roman  lady  that  she  will  tell  her  for- 
tune, for  that  she  being  a  high-priest's  daughter,*  is  versed 
in  the  arcana  of  the  Jewish  law,  and  well  able,  therefore,  to 
interpret  the  will  of  heaven ;  for  this  she  needs  but  to  have 
her  hand  crossed  with  money,  however  sparingly,  for  "the 
Jews,"  adds  the  satirist,f  to  whom  we  owe  this  latter  description, 
"  will,  for  the  smallest  coin,  sell  you  what  fortunes  you  desire." 
For  the  confirmation  of  these  positions,  and  of  the  picture 
of  the  state  of  the  heathen  world  which  Paul  himself  gives 
at  the  commencement  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  a  large 
collection  of  positive  facts  and  authentic  declarations  is  given 
in  an  able  and  instructive  essay  by  a  German  theologian  of 
high  name,};  from  which  we  may  condense  a  few  particulars. 

*  She  might  make  this  claim — but  no  Jewess  could  make  that  claim 
which,  in  true  Roman  haughty  ignorance  of  Judaism,  the  satirist  as- 
cribes to  her,  of  being  "  high  priestess  of  the  tree."  Conscious  of  this, 
Dryden  translates — 

"A  high-priest's  daughter  she." 

But  Gifford— 

"  A  priestess  she, 
An  hierarch  of  the  consecrated  tree." 

f  Juvenal.  Sat.  vi.  540-646. 

%  Professor  Tholuck  On  the  Nature  and  Moral   Influence  of  Hea- 


BAR-JESUS.  251 

Already,  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  belief  in  a  future 
state  appears  to  have  been  lost  among  the  cultivated  Romans. 
Cato  and  Caesar  confessed  in  the  senate,  that  the  belief  in  a 
future  existence  was  fabulous,  and  that  beyond  the  grave  nei- 
ther joy  nor  sorrow  were  to  be  expected.  Caesar  declared, — 
"  Ultra  nee  curae  neque  gaudio  locum  esse"  Cato  highly  ap- 
proved of  these  words ;  for  he  said, — "  Cams  Caesar  has  just 
spoken  in  this  assembly  well  and  strikingly  concerning  life  and 
death,  declaring  those  things  to  be  false,  as  I  also  think  them, 
which  are  related  of  the  infernal  world,  that  the  wicked  are 
separated  from  the  virtuous,  and  inhabit  terrific,  loathsome, 
shocking  uncultivated  places." 

A  still  more  melancholy  declaration  of  despairing  unbelief 
is  given  by  the  elder  Pliny,  who,  after  scouting  the  idea  of  a 
providence  in  human  affairs,  goes  on  thus : — "  Still,  it  is  of  use 
in  human  life  to  believe  that  God  takes  care  of  human  things : 
and  that  punishments,  though  sometimes  late  (since  God  is  so 
much  occupied  in  his  vast  cares),  will  never  fail  of  being  in- 
flicted on  crimes ;  and  that  man  is  not  therefore  the  most  near- 
ly allied  by  birth  to  the  Deity,  in  order  that  he  should  be 
next  to  the  brutes  in  debasement.  But  it  is  the  special  con- 
solation of  imperfect  human  nature,  that  God  cannot  indeed 
do  all  things.  For  neither  can  he  call  death  to  his  own  re- 
lief, should  he  desire  it, — a  noble  refuge  which  he  has  given 
to  man  in  the  midst  of  so  many  evils ;  nor  can  he  endow  man 
with  immortality,  etc. ;  by  which  things  the  power  of  nature 
is  doubtless  declared,  and  that  is  what  we  call  God."* 

It  was  impossible  that  the  inferior  multitude  should  remain 
uninfected  by  this  loosening  of  all  belief.  Servius,  in  a  note 
on  Virgil's  ^Eneid,  remarks,  expressly,  that  "  unbelief  is  equally 
spread  among  the  high  and  the  low."  The  lines  of  Juvenal 
are  well  known : 

thenism,  especially  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  viewed  in  the  light  of 
Christianity.  Translated  by  Dr.  Emerson,  in  the  American  Biblical 
Repository  for  1852. 

*  Hist.  Nat  Lib.  il  ch.  7. 


252  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

"  Esse  aliquos  manes,  et  subterranae  regna, 
Et  catum,  et  Stygio  ranas  in  gurgite  nignas 
Nee  pueri  eredunt,  nisi  qui  nondum  sere  lavantur."* 

So  Seneca  says :  "  No  one  is  any  longer  so  much  a  child  that 
he  must  be  shown  there  is  no  Cerberus  nor  Tartarus." 

While  now  on  the  one  hand  the  educated  and  the  unedu- 
cated suffered  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  the  infidelity  of 
their  times,  another  and  a  larger  portion — and  in  some  meas- 
ure the  same  portion — of  the  people  threw  themselves  into 
the  arms  of  the  most  unbounded  superstition,  as  had  already 
been  done  by  the  philosophers.  The  first  effect  of  this  super- 
stition was,  that  men  were  not  content  with  their  own  and 
the  Grecian  gods,  but  brought  to  Rome  the  gods  of  all  lands 
and  worshipped  them.  They  gloomily  felt  the  incapacity  of 
their  own  gods  to  satisfy ;  they  fancied  they  could  supply  the 
want  by  increasing  the  number ;  and  the  more  foreign  the 
deity,  the  more  did  their  excited  minds  promise  themselves 
from  it.  To  the  unhappy  heathen,  who  were  running,  in  the 
disquietude  of  their  hearts,  now  to  the  heathen  temple,  now 
to  the  Jewish  synagogue,  an  affecting  address  was  made  by 
Commodianus,  a  simple  and  unaffected  Christian  of  Africa : 
"  They  must  not,  in  the  disquietude  of  their  hearts,  seek  for 
rest  there  ;  the  true  and  real  peace  of  mind  can  be  imparted 
to  them  only  through  Christ." 

Since  the  number  of  gods  was  in  this  manner  continually 
increasing,  it  was  natural,  too,  that  the  superstitious  worship 
of  them,  and  the  multitude  of  their  priests,  and  temples,  and  rites, 
should  increase  above  all  measure.  Thus  in  Lucian,  Momus 
is  made  to  say:  "Thou  Apollo,  with  thine  oracles,  art  no 
longer  alone  celebrated ;  but  every  stone  and  every  alter  utter 

*  Sat.  ii.  149.     Thus  rendered,  or  rather  paraphrased,  by  Gifford : — 
"  That  angry  justice  formed  a  dreadful  hell, 
That  ghosts  in  subterraneous  regions  dwell, 
That  hatefijl  Styx  his  sable  current  rolls, 
And  Charon  ferries  o'er  unbodied  souls, 
Are  now  as  tales  or  idle  fables  prized, 
By  children  questioned,  and  by  men  despised." 


SERGID8    PAULUS.  253 

responses ;  every  stone,  at  least,  upon  which  oil  has  been  poured* 
and  which  is  crowned  with  a  garland,  and  has  beside  it  a  jug- 
gler, of  which  there  are  now  so  many."  The  more  abom- 
inable vice  and  licentiousness  became,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
more  did  men  yield  themselves  up,  on  the  other,  to  supersti- 
tion, in  order  to  quiet  conscience  and  appease  the  gods.  In- 
deed, why  should  we  wonder  at  the  mass  of  superstition 
among  the  common  people,  and  in  later  ages,  when  such  a 
man  as  Augustus,  the  Roman  Emperor,  could  dread  to  be 
alone  in  the  night ;  when  he  was  afraid  of  thunder  and  light- 
ning, like  a  child,  and  carried  about  with  him  magical  remedies 
in  order  to  avert  these  dangers  ;  and  when,  too,  he  was  fright- 
ened, whenever  he  happened  in  the  morning,  instead  of  his 
right  shoe,  to  put  on  his  left  shoe  first.* 

Particularly  pernicious  under  this  state  of  things  was  the 
influence  of  the  enormous  multitude  of  soothsayers,  interpre- 
ters of  signs  and  of  lightning,  astrologers,  palmisters,  and 
necromancers.  These  all  ministered  to  the  ungovernable 
passions  of  the  populace,  who  tormented  by  a  thousand  anx- 
ieties and  cares  for  the  consequences  of  their  own  vices  or  the 
wickedness  of  others,  longed  to  penetrate  the  darkness  of 
futurity.  In  this  form  of  superstition,  heathenism  was  par- 
ticularly distinguished.  The  Indians,  Persians,  Egyptians, 
Gauls,  and  Germans,  had  their  soothsayers ;  and  among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  this  art  had  been  carried  to  such  an  ex- 
tent, that  a  hundred  different  kinds  of  divination  are  enumer- 
ated. The  great  kept  astrologers  and  soothsayers  continually 
by  them  in  their  palaces ;  and  the  case  before  us  is,  therefore, 
very  far  from  being  a  rare  instance  of  the  practice. 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

SERGIUS  PAULUS. ACTS  XIII.  1. 

The  dominion  which  Bar-jesus  had  acquired  over  the  mind 
of  the  Roman  governor  of  Cyprus,  was  not  so  absolute  as  to 
*  Suetonius,  Vita  Augusti.    0.  78,  90,  91,  92. 


254  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

shut  out  all  desire  for  further  knowledge.  The  labors  of  Saul 
and  Barnabas  at  Paphos  were  so  active,  and  produced  so 
marked  a  sensation  in  that  city,  that  the  report  of  their  pro- 
ceedings, and  of  their  extraordinary  doctrine,  soon  reached 
him  ;  and  under  the  influence  of  that  inquisitiveness,  that 
craving  for  rest,  which  was  last  evening  described,  he  sent  for 
them  to  hear  what  they  might  say. 

They  declared  to  him  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ : 
they  told  him  there  was  pardon  for  sin,  rest  for  disquiet,  cer- 
tainty for  doubt.  Before  his  relaxed  and  languid  state  of 
mind,  they  set  forth  the  invigorating  realities  of  the  spiritual 
life — of  life  with  God  in  Christ. 

These  were  indeed  strange  things.  The  governor  was  visibly 
impressed  by  them.  Perceiving  this,  the  magian  put  forth 
all  his  strength  and  subtilty  in  opposition  to  this  teaching, 
by  which  he  saw  that  his  own  influence  with  Sergius  Paulus 
was  sorely  imperilled.  He  spared  nothing  ;  and  the  violence 
of  his  invectives,  the  atrocity  of  his  imputations,  and  the 
unscrupulous  tortuosity  of  his  arguments,  may  be  judged  from 
the  vehemence  of  indignation  which  it  awakened  in  the  minds 
of  the  apostles.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  "  blasphemed" 
to  the  uttermost "  that  worthy  name"  through  which  they  had 
proclaimed  salvation ;  and  we  know  very  well  that  there  was 
nothing  which  Saul,  at  least,  could  less  endure  than  this.  He 
felt  that  further  argument  was  useless  with  such  a  man  as 
this ;  and  that  it  became  him  rather  to  vindicate  the  power 
of  that  Lord  whom  he  had  vilified,  by  invoking  His  judgment 
upon  one  who  thus  sought  the  murder  of  a  soul.  He  felt  the 
Divine  Spirit  move  within  him,  and  warrant  the  strong  utter- 
ance to  which  it  impelled  him,  as,  fixing  a  look  stern  and  ter- 
rible on  the  countenance  of  the  impostor,  he  said,  "  0  full  of 
all  subtilty  and  mischief,  thou  child  of  the  Devil,  thou  enemy 
of  all  righteousness,  wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right 
ways  of  the  Lord  ?  And  now,  behold  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
is  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  blind,  not  seeing  the  sun  for  a 
season."     And  instantly  the  light  wavered  in  his  eyes,  and  a 


SERGIL'S    PAULUS.  255 

mist,  deepening  into  thick  darkness,  shut  it  out  altogether ; 
and  he  became 

"  Dark,  dark,  dark,  amid  the  blaze  of  noon." 

He  had  not  a  word  more  to  say.  Trembling  and  abashed,  he 
•who  had  the  moment  before  held  up  so  bold  a  front  against 
Christ  and  his  commissioned  servants,  now  sought  only  to 
withdraw  to  hide  in  some  obscure  corner  his  burden  and  his 
shame ;  and  to  that  end  he  blindly  groped  around  in  search 
of  some  pitying  hand  to  lead  him  forth. 

It  is  probable  that  Saul's  own  blinding  on  the  way  to 
Damascus  suggested  to  him  this  form  of  judgment ;  and,  as 
in  that  case,  he  limited  it  to  "  a  season,"  a  merciful  restriction 
which  has  been  too  much  overlooked,  but  which  suggests  the 
possibility  that  Bar-jesus  eventually  recovered  his  sight;  and 
we  are  not  precluded  from  the  hope  that  this  correction  may 
have  been  salutary  to  him.  It  is  certain  that  it  confirmed  the 
mind  of  the  Roman  governor,  who  having  witnessed  this  sig- 
nal miracle,  "  believed,  being  astonished  at  the  doctrine  of  the 
Lord." 

Of  this  personage  it  remains  to  notice  one  curious  matter. 
The  title  applied  to  designate  the  office  of  Sergius  Paulus,  in 
the  authorized  version,  is  "  deputy,"  an  indefinite  term,  prob- 
ably chosen  to  avoid  a  difficulty  of  which  the  translators  were 
conscious.  In  the  original  Greek,  however,  the  term  is  the 
definite  one  of  "  proconsul"  (bvOvnccwg),  and  the  accuracy  of 
this  designation,  as  a])plied  to  the  Roman  governor  of  Cyprus, 
has  been  very  strongly  called  in  question  on  historical  grounds. 
But  the  result  of  more  exact  and  seaching  inquiry  has  only 
been,  as  usual,  to  establish  the  minute  accuracy  of  the  sacred 
writer,  on  evidence  not  to  be  shaken. 

Augustus,  in  pursuance  of  his  deep  policy  of  quietly  concen- 
trating all  real  power  in  his  own  hands,  made  a  division  of 
the  provinces  between  himself  and  the  senate ;  according  to 
the  latter  the  quiet  and  peaceful  ones,  and  retaining  for  him- 
ielf  those  that  required  the  presence  of  troops.  He  thus  re- 
mained entire  master  of  the  army  ;  but  although  the  object 


256  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

of  this  stroke  of  policy  was  transparent,  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  in  any  way  opposed  or  censured.  The  administra- 
tion of  the  senatorial  provinces  was  given  every  year,  by  the 
senate,  to  officers  who  bore  the  title  of  proconsuls;  while 
Augustus  placed  the  other  governors,  called  propraetors,  whom 
he  appointed  when  he  liked,  and  who  remained  as  long  as  he 
pleased.  Now,  we  are  reminded  on  the  authority  of  Strabo 
and  Dio  Cassius,  that  in  this  division  of  the  provinces  the  island 
of  Cyprus  was  allotted  to  the  emperor ;  and  it  is  hence  urged 
that  the  proper  title  of  Sergius  Paulus  must  have  been  pro- 
praetor, not  proconsul,  which  Luke  gives  to  him.  But  those 
who  argued  this,  forgat  that  the  division  first  made  under- 
went many  changes.  Such  a  change  happened  with  respect 
to  Cyprus.  One  of  the  authorities  for  the  former  statement 
(Dio  Cassius)  reports  that  subsequently  the  emperor  exchanged 
Cyprus,  together  with  Gallia  Narbonensis,  with  the  senate  for 
Dalmatia  which  had  before  been  theirs.  In  this  state  the 
province  continued,  and  the  proper  title  of  its  governor  was 
that  of  proconsul,  as  Dio  Cassius  himself,  indeed,  in  a  further 
allusion  to  the  subject,  affirms.  But  to  this  it  may  be  objected, 
that  Dion  is  speaking  of  several  Roman  provinces,  one  of  which 
was  certainly  governed  by  a  proconsul ;  and  that,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  other  authority,  it  might  be  concluded  that,  for  the 
sake  of  brevity,  he  used  one  term  for  all,  whether  prop- 
erly applied  or  not.  But  that  Cyprus  is  not  to  be  excepted, 
and  that  the  title  which  Dio  Cassius,  as  well  as  Luke,  em- 
ployed, really  did  belong  to  the  Roman  Governor  of  Cyprus, 
is  now  most  conclusively  established  by  the  inscription  on  a 
Greek  coin  belonging  to  Cyprus  itself,  and  struck  in  the  very 
age  in  which  Sergius  Paulus  was  governor  of  the  island.  It 
was  struck  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  Caesar,  whose  head  and 
name  are  on  the  face  of  it ;  and  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Claudius 
Caesar  that  Saul  and  Barnabas  visited  Cyprus.  On  this  coin 
the  same  title  of  proconsul  (tipdvnaTog)  is  given  to  Cominius 
Proclus  which  is  given  by  Luke  to  Sergius  Paulus ;  and  the 
coincidence  which  it  shows  is  of  that  description  that  it  is 


PAUL. 


257 


sufficient  of  itself  to  establish  the  authenticity  of  the  work  in 
which  the  coincidence  is  found.* 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 


PAUL. 


-ACTS  XIII.  9. 


It  is  in  recording  the  transaction  with  Bar-jesus  that  Luke 
gives  to  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  the  name  of  "  Paul,"  which 
he  always  afterwards  uses.  "  Then  Saul  (who  also  is  called 
Paul),  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,"  etc. 

*  Our  engraving  is,  with  the  author's  permission,  copied  from  "  Nu- 
mismatic Illustrations  of  the  New  Testament"  by  J.  Y.  Akerman,  F.  S.  A. : 
Lond.  1846.  Mr.  Akerman  states  that  it  is  "  taken  from  an  actual  spe- 
cimen, which,  though  not  in  the  most  perfect  preservation,  retains  suffi- 
cient of  its  type  and  legend  to  answer  our  purpose."  The  same  writer 
points  to  other  monumental  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject,  namely : 
1.  Coins  of  Augustus  and  Livia,  in  which  Aulus  Plautius  is  named  as 
proconsul  of  Cyprus :  2.  An  inscription  of  the  time  of  Caligula,  which 
so  designates  Aquius  Scaura ;  and  3.  An  inscription  of  the  reign  of 
Claudius  or  Nero,  in  which  this  title  is  given  to  Quadratus.  It  is  not 
beyond  hope  that  a  coin  giving  this  title  to  Sergius  Paulus  may  yet 
come  to  light.  Lardner  (Works,  i.  32-34.,  edit.  1838,)  seems  to  have 
first,  in  England,  called  attention  to  this  matter.  But  he  says  :  "  If  1 
have  done  St.  Luke  justice  in  this  place,  it  is  chiefly  owing  to  assist- 
ance from  Cardinal  Noris ;  and  I  think  myself  obliged  to  make  a  par- 
ticular acknowledgment  of  it."  Lardner  gives  the  historical  evidence, 
and  he  knew  of  the  inscription  respecting  Aquius  Scaura,  which  is 
given  in  Gruter.  The  subject  was  afterwards  taken  up  by  Bishop 
Marsh  in  his  Lectures,  Part  v.  Lect.  26,  pp.  85,  86,  where  the  numis- 
matic evidence  is  indicated. 


258  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

This  change  of  name,  at  this  turning  point  of  the  history, 
which  henceforth  becomes  almost  exclusively  the  record  of 
Paul's  proceedings,  has  excited  a  good  deal  of  speculation,  and 
the  opinions  have  been  very  various.  The  most  prominent  no- 
tion ascribed  the  change  to  the  conversion  of  Sergius  Paulus, 
whose  name  the  apostle  assumed  in  commemoration  of  so 
important  an  event.  Although  this  notion  had  so  ancient  an 
upholder  as  Jerome,  and  one  so  recent  as  Olshausen,  Christian 
feeling  seems  instinctively  to  recoil  from  it,  as  adverse  to  the 
character  of  Paul,  who  was  not  want  to  glory  after  this  sort 
in  his  spiritual  victories.  Besides,  this  would  be  an  inversion 
of  the  natural  order  of  things.  He  that  teacheth  is  greater 
than  he  who  is  taught.  In  the  relation  in  which  they  stood 
to  each  other,  Paul  was  greater  than  Sergius  Paulus ;  and 
although  there  have  been  examples  of  a  servant  assuming  the 
name  of  his  master,  or  a  disciple  that  of  his  teacher,  there  is 
none  of  a  teacher  taking  the  name  of  his  pupil.  Still  more 
objectionable  even,  as  it  seems  to  us,  to  offensive  puerility,  is 
the  notion  of  Chrysostom  and  others,  that,  seeing  Simon  Peter 
had  two  names,  Saul  was  determined  not  to  be,  even  in  this  re- 
spect, behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles.  We  apprehend 
that  those  who  have  studied  the  character  of  this  great  apostle, 
as  a  whole,  will  not  hesitate  to  reject  both  these  explanations 
with  some  feeling  of  disgust.  Better  in  religious  feeling,  and 
more  in  unison  with  the  apostle's  character,  but  scarcely  more 
satisfactory  to  the  instructed  judgment,  is  that  which  Augus- 
tine applies,  with  much  rhetorical  effect,  in  various  of  his  writ- 
ings, where  he  alludes  to  the  literal  meaning  of  the  name 
Paulus  (little),  and  contrasts  Saul,  the  tall  king,  the  proud, 
self-confident,  persecutor  of  David,  with  Paul,  the  lowly  and 
the  penitent,  who  deliberately  wished  thus  to  indicate  by  his 
very  name  that  he  was  "  the  least  of  the  apostles,"  and  "  less 
than  the  least  of  all  saints."  This  is  really  a  pretty  fancy,  and 
the  imagination  entertains  it  with  some  pleasure. 

Others,  still  dwelling  upon  the  signification  of  the  name  of 
Paul,  imagines  that  it  was  bestowed  upon  him  as  a  sort  of 
nickname  by  the  Gentiles  on  account  of  the  lowness  of  his 


Paul,  259 

stature.  That  he  was  of  small  stature  is  a  very  general  tradi- 
tion in  the  Church  ;  but  it  is  quite  likely  that  this  tradition 
itself  had  no  better  foundation  than  the  meaning  of  the  name. 
But  not  then,  any  more  than  now,  was  every  one  who  bore 
the  name  of  Paul  necessarily  of  small  stature  ;  for  at  the  time 
in  view,  as  now  among  ourselves,  current  names  were  applied 
among  the  Jews,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans,  with  little  re- 
gard to  their  literal  signification.  That,  however,  Paul  was 
of  small  stature,  whether  his  name  had  any  relatiou  to  the 
fact  or  not,  is  thought  by  some  to  be  indicated  in  2  Cor.  x.  10, 
where  he  speaks  of  his  "  bodily  presence  "  as  "  weak."  A 
better  explanation  is  that  which  Doddridge  gives  after  Beza, 
and  which  has  since  been  fully  enforced  by  Kuinoel.  Dodd- 
ridge says  :  "  I  think  Beza's  account  of  the  matter  most  easy 
and  probable — that  having  conversed  hitherto  chiefly  with 
Jews  and  Syrians,  to  whom  the  name  of  Saul  was  familiar, 
and  now  coming  among  Romans  and  Greeks,  they  would  nat- 
urally pronounce  his  name  Paul ;  as  one  whose  Hebrew  name 
was  Jochanan  would  be  called  by  the  Greek  and  Latins  Jo- 
hannes, by  the  French  Jean,  by  the  Dutch  Hans,  and  by  the 
English  John.  Beza  thinks  that  the  family  of  the  proconsul 
might  be  the  first  who  addressed  or  spoke  to  him  by  the  name 
of  Paul." 

The  analogy  between  the  names  Saul  and  Paul  is  too  re- 
markable not  to  suggest  that  it  was  adapted  to  the  practice  of 
the  Romans  of  distinguishing  foreigners,  and  especially  Orien- 
tals, by  softened  forms  of  their  names,  or  by  names  of  their 
own  most  nearly  resembling  them  in  sound.  Grotius  has 
brought  together  several  examples,  as  Jason  for  Jesus ;  Pollio 
for  Hillel ;  Menelaus  for  Onias ;  Silvanus  for  Silas ;  Alcimus 
for  Jakin,  and  others.  But  this  practice  exists  among  most 
nations,  and  among  none  more  than  our  own,  in  proper  names 
both  of  places  and  persons,  and  even  in  the  signs  of  inns ; 
arising  manifestly  from  the  craving  of  those  to  whom  the  orig- 
inal terms  are  unknown,  to  reduce  them  into  current  or  sig- 
nificant forms.  The  instances  that  we  call  to  mind,  being 
created  by  uneducated  persons,  are  mostly  of  a  ludicrous  char- 


260  FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK — FRIDAY. 

acter,  and  are  therefore  somewhat  unsuitable  here;  but  we 
may  yet  point  out  a  few  for  illustration  : — Abraham  Parker 
for  Ibrahim  Pasha ;  Leather  Rollin  for  Ledru  Rollin,  as  recorded 
in  the  newspapers  some  years  ago  :  Billy  Ruffian  for  Bello- 
rophon ;  Andrew  Mackay  for  Andromache,  and  other  nauti- 
cal corruptions  of  names  of  ships ;  not  without  significant  ap- 
plication to  the  subject  are  such  instances  in  the  signs  of  inns, 
as  Bull  and  Gate  and  Bull  and  Mouth,  for  Boulogne  Gate  and 
Boulogne  Mouth  (mouth  of  Boulogne  harbor) ;  Bag  of  Nails  for 
Bacchanals ;  Cat  and  Wheel,  for  Catherine  Wheel ;  and  the 
like* 

But  we  return  to  the  extract  from  Doddridge,  to  remark 
that  the  observation  with  which  it  closes,  that  Paul  first  heard 
himself  so  called  by  the  family  of  Sergius  Paul  us,  is  scarcely 
tenable ;  for  Tarsus,  where  Paul  was  born  and  reared,  was  as 
much  a  Gentile  place  as  Paphos,  and  the  same  reasons  existed 
at  the  former  place  as  at  the  latter  for  the  name  being  imposed. 

We  have  repeatedly  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  Jews  resid- 
ing in  foreign  parts  had  two  names,  one  Jewish,  and  the  other 
Greek  or  Roman.  Indeed,  this  was  the  practice  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  even  in  Palestine  itself — at  least  in  Galilee,  where 
the  population  was  of  a  mixed  character.  It  is  therefore  likely, 
almost  to  certainty,  that  Saul,  being  a  native  of  Tarsus,  from 
the  first  had  two  names.  Saul  was,  as  we  know,  his  Hebrew 
name ;  and  that  Paul  was  the  other  is  rendered  probable,  not 
only  by  the  fact  of  its  being  the  one  now  brought  forward, 
but  by  its  resemblance  to  that  of  Saul,  and  by  the  fact  that 
his  being  a  born  citizen  of  Rome  would  probably  be  indicated 
by  his  Gentile  name  being  Roman  rather  than  Greek.  In- 
deed, that  the  name  of  Saul  does  from  this  point  altogether 
disappear  from  history — that  the  apostle  calls  himself  Paul 
exclusively  throughout  his  Epistles,  and  that  Peter,  in  the  only 
place  where  he  mentions  him,  calls  him  by  the  same  name — 

*  As  respects  this  species  of  corruption  in  signs,  there  is  much  cu- 
rious information  in  Brand's  Popular  Antiquities,  edited  by  Sir.  Henry 
Ellis,  ii.  351-358;  Bohn.  Loud.  1849. 


PAUL.  261 

would  together  strongly  intimate  that  this  name  was  now  first 
assumed. 

We  are,  upon  the  whole,  then,  led  to  conclude  that  the 
apostle  had  always  borne  the  two  names  of  Saul  and  Paul. 
Hitherto  the  first  name  only  has  been  used,  as  the  historian 
has  chiefly  had  to  relate  his  proceedings  in  connection  with 
Jews.  But  now  finding  himself  called  Paul  by  the  people 
about  the  proconsular  court,  and  being  aware  that  henceforth 
his  intercourse  would  mainly  be  among  persons  who  would 
distinguish  him  by  that  name,  he  thinks  it  proper  to  sink  his 
Jewish  designation,  and  adhere  to  that  which  already  be- 
longed to  him,  by  which  he  would  hereafter  be  best  known, 
and  which  suited  well  with  that  career,  as  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  which  he  had  now  efficiently  commenced. 

A  recent  writer  *  has  well  remarked,  that  "  the  adoption  of 
a  Gentile  name  is  so  far  from  being  alien  to  the  spirit  of  a 
Jewish  family,  that  a  similar  practice  may  be  traced  through 
all  the  periods  of  Hebrew  history. 

"  Beginning  with  the  Persian  epoch,  we  find  such  names  as 
Nehemiah,  Schammai,  Belteshazzar,  which  betray  an  Oriental 
origin,  and  show  that  Jewish  appellatives  followed  the  growth 
of  the  living  language.  In  the  Greek  period  we  encounter 
the  names  of  Philip,f  and  his  son  Alexander,);  and  of  Alex- 
ander's successors,  Antiochus,  Lysiraachus,  Ptolemy,  Antipa- 
ter.§  The  names  of  Greek  philosophers,  such  as  Zeno  and 
Epicurus  ;||  even  Greek  mythological  names,  such  as  Jason 
and  Menelaus.^f     Some  of  these  names  will  be  recognizee!  as 

*  Howson,  in  Life  and  Writings  of  St.  Paul,  quoting  Zunz's  Namen 
d?r  Jvden  (Names  of  the  Jews),  Leipzig,  1837,  a  work  we  have  not 
ourselves  seen. 

f  Matt.x.  3  ;  Acts  vi.  5 ;  xxi.  8 ;  Josephus  Antiq,  xiv.  10,  22. 

%  Acts  xix.  33,  34;  see  2  Tim.  iv.  14. 

§  1  Mace.  xii.  16 ;  xvi.  11:2  Mace.  iv.  28 .  Joseph.  Antiq.,  xiv.  10. 

||  Zunz  adduces  these  names  from  the  Mishna  and  the  Berenice  in- 
scription. 

*[[  Jason,  Joseph,  Antiq.,  xii.  10,  6 ,  perhaps  Acts  xvii.  5-9  ;  Rom 
jcvi.  21 .  Menelaus,  JosePH,  Antiq.,  xii.  5,  1 ;  see  2  Mace.  iv.  5. 


262  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

occurring  in  the  New  Testament  itself.  ."Whei*  we  mention 
Roman  names  adopted  by  the  Jews,  the  coincidence  is  still 
more  striking.  Crispus,*  Justus,  f  Niger, J  are  found  in 
Josephus,  §  as  well  as  in  the  Acts.  Drusilla  and  Priscilla 
might  have  been  Roman  matrons.  The  Aquila  of  St.  Paul 
is  the  counterpart  of  the  Apella  of  Horace.||  Nor  need  we 
end  our  survey  of  the  Jewish  names  with  the  early  Roman 
empire ;  for  passing  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  we  see 
Jews  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  middle  ages  calling  themselves 
Basil,  Leo,  Theodosius,  Sophia,  and  in  the  latter  part,  Albert, 
Crispin,  Denys." 

To  this  we  may  add  that  the  same  process  is  still  in 
operation.  Among  the  familiar  names  of  Jews  in  London, 
there  are  numbers  which  indicate  the  countries  from  which 
the  families  they  belong  to  came — Spanish  and  Portuguese,  as 
De  Castro,  Garcia,  Lopes,  Mendoza ;  Italian,  as  Montefiore ; 
German,  as  Herschell,  Rothschild,  Goldsmid ;  besides  a  num- 
ber of  Polish  names  ending  in  ski.  English  names  are  as  yet 
few,  or,  being  English  names,  we  do  not  well  distinguish  them 
as  belonging  to  Jews.  Davis  is,  however,  a  very  common 
name  among  them. 


FORTY-SEVENTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

MARK. ACTS  XV.  37. 

The  labors  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  in  Cyprus  seem  to  have 
terminated  at  Paphos.  From  that  place  they  embarked  for 
the  near  coast  of  Pamphylia,  the  province  lying  west  of  Paul's 
native  Cilicia.  On  reaching  the  coast  the  vessel  probably 
sailed  up  the  river  Cestius,  and  landed  its  passengers  at  the 

*  Acts  xviii.  8.  f  Acts  i  23.  %  Acts  xiii.  1. 

§  Joseph.  Vit,  68,  65 ;  B.  J  iv.  6,  1 ;  compare  1  Cor.  i.  U  ;  Acta 
xviii.  7;  Col.  iv.  11. 

||  Hor.  1  Sat.,  v.  100.  Priscilla  appears  under  the  abbreviated 
form  of  Prisca.     2  Tim.  iv.  19 


MARK.  263 

city  of  Perga,  seven  miles  from  the  coast,  to  which  the  river  was 
then  navigable.  Of  Perga  little  is  known,  but  there  is  a 
noted  temple  to  Diana  upon  an  eminence,  and  the  city  cele- 
brated a  great  annual  festival  in  honor  of  the  goddess.  The 
site,  which  is  very  beautiful,  is  now  marked  only  by  some 
Grecian  ruins  of  walls  and  towers,  columns  and  cornices,  a 
fine  theatre  and  a  stadium,  a  broken  aqueduct,  and  sundry 
scattered  tombs.  The  sole  inhabitants  are  the  shepherds  who 
encamp  with  their  flocks  among  the  ruins. 

The  apostolic  party  made,  however,  no  stay  in  this  place — 
perhaps  merely  just  long  enough  to  settle  their  route,  unless 
this  had  been  previously  divinely  indicated.  Paul  had  already 
preached  the  Gospel  in  Cilicia,  and  in  the  districts  east  therof. 
It  seems  to  have  been  now  his  desire  to  make  the  glad  tidings 
known  in  the  districts  west  and  north-west  of  Cilicia,  as  he 
knew  there  were  in  those  parts  many  settlements  of  Jews  in 
important  Gentile  cities.  It  was  probably  in  consideration  of 
this  matter  that  John  Mark  declined  to  go  any  farther ;  at  all 
events,  it  was  at  Perga  that  he  parted  company  from  his  uncle 
Barnabas  and  from  Paul,  and  hastened  back  to  Jerusalem. 
Whether  he  did  this  with  the  consent  or  approbation  of  Bar- 
nabas is  not  clear ;  but  it  is  certain  that  Paul  highly  disap- 
proved of  the  step,  and  regarded  it  with  considerable  displeasure. 
We  may  therefore  conclude  that  Mark  was  in  the  wrong,  or 
at  least  that  he  had  no  motive  for  the  separation,  which  Paul 
considered  adequate.  It  is  quite  possible  that  he  entertained 
some  scruple  at  receiving  idolatrous  Gentiles  into  the  Christian 
Church,  or  was  dismayed  by  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of 
the  attempt.  Perhaps  the  dangers  of  the  way,  in  the  pro- 
posed inland  journey,  disheartened  a  young  man  who  had  not 
before  been  from  home.  The  lawless  and  predatory  character 
of  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  highlands  separating  the  plains 
of  this  coast  from  the  interior  table  land,  was  notorious  in 
ancient  times ;  and  there  was  no  route  Paul  ever  folllowed 
which  more  than  this  abounded  in  those  "  perils  of  robbers," 
of  whom  he  speaks  in  one  of  his  epistles.  (2  Cor.  xi.  26).  It 
may  be,  however,  that  this  step  of  Mark  was  taken  from  a  de- 


264  FORTY-SEVENTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

sire  to  rejoin  Peter,  whose  convert  he  probably  was,  and  in 
whose  company  he  appears  to  have  taken  great  delight ;  for 
he  may  have  heard  or  supposed  that  Peter  had  by  this  time 
returned  to  Jerusalem,  it  being  known  that  Herod  Agrippa 
was  now  dead.  As  good  as  any  of  these  suppositions  is  this 
— that  the  young  man  was  home-sick,  and  longed  sore  after 
his  mother's  house.  It  would  seem  that  his  mother  Mary  was 
a  widow,  and  probably  had  early  become  such,  so  that  Mark 
had  been  reared  up  in  his  own  nest,  under  his  mother's  wing. 
Probably  he  was  an  only  son,  even  her  only  child.  Now,  we 
all  know  what  kind  of  character  is  usually  formed  under  such 
bringing-up.  A  mother-bred  youth,  especially  if  the  only 
child  of  that  mother,  and  she  a  widow,  usually  receives  such 
a  hot-house  culture,  as  badly  fits  him  to  endure  the  sharp  air 
and  gusty  winds  of  practical  life.  The  hardening  of  such  a 
character  is  the  most  distressing  moral  process  to  which  life  is 
subject.  Tender  to  touch  as  the  mimosa ;  morbidly  sensitive 
to  every  influence  from  without;  even  the  kindness  of  men 
seems  rough,  while  neglected  wounds  and  unkindness  kills. 
Apt  to  see  offence  where  love  is  meant ;  mortified  to  be  no 
longer  the  first  object  of  thought  and  solicitude  to  all  around  ; 
such  a  young  man  cannot  possibly  find  any  society  in  his  first 
adventure  from  home,  in  which  his  self-esteem  will  not  be 
deeply  wounded.  An  earnest  craving  for  home  arises,  and 
that  absence  from  it  which  a  hardier  character  sustains  with 
comparative  ease,  soon  becomes  intolerable. 

We  take  this  to  have  been  very  nearly  the  case  of  Mark ; 
and  while  in  this  frame  of  mind,  we  can  conceive  that  the  so- 
ciety of  his  earnest  seniors,  even  though  one  of  them  was  his 
uncle,  became  distasteful  to  him.  We  cannot  well  answer  re- 
specting Barnabas,  but  of  Paul  we  know  that  in  the  midst  of 
his  generous  tenderness  of  heart,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  enforce 
upon  those  who  were  or  were  to  be  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
the  necessity  to  "  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  Christ 
Jesus,"  a  doctrine  which,  as  practically  enforced  in  daily  life 
upon  a  young  man  in  this  position,  was  likely  to  be  at  first 
exceedingly  unpalateable. 


MARK.  265 

Notwithstanding  this  weakness,  Mark  remained  sound  at 
the  core ;  and  when  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  about  to  set  out 
upon  their  second  missionary  journey  from  Antioch,  Mark  was 
willing  to  accompany  them.  His  uncle  was  quite  ready  to 
take  him  ;  but  Paul  had  not  the  same  confidence  in  his  steadi- 
ness, and  mindful  of  the  probably  serious  inconvenience  which 
his  previous  desertion  had  occasioned,  refused  his  company. 
The  result  was  a  very  painful  misunderstanding  between  him 
and  Barnabas,  and  the  rupture  of  their  plan  of  co-operative 
labor.  Barnabas  chose  to  part  with  Paul  rather  than  with 
his  nephew,  and  took  him  with  himself,  leaving  Paul  to  pur- 
sue his  own  course  with  Silas. 

It  was  probably  from  his  steady  and  faithful  conduct  during 
this  journey  with  his  uncle,  that  Paul,  who  must  have  heard 
of  it,  restored  him  to  his  good  opinion,  and  admitted  him  to 
his  friendship.  It  appears  that  he  was  with  Paul  during  his 
first  imprisonment  at  Rome,*  and  when  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  was  written,  was  about  to  undertake  a  journey  to 
Colosse  for  him.  He  there  speaks  of  Mark  as  "  a  fellow-worker 
unto  the  kingdom  of  God,"  and  "  a  comfort  "  to  himself ;  and 
in  his  latest  letter,  written  not  long  before  his  death,  he  asks 
Timothy  to  bring  Mark  to  Rome  with  him,  being,  as  he  says, 
"  profitable  to  me  for  the  ministry."f 

Mark  seems,  however,  to  have  more  generally  labored  in 
the  society  of  Peter,  who  calls  him  his  son. J  It  is  clear  that 
he  was  with  Peter  when  this  was  written ;  and  the  general 
ecclesiastical  tradition  is,  that  the  was  the  companion  of  his 
travels  and  acted  as  his  amanuensis.  Indeed,  it  is  generally 
understood  that  the  Gospel  which  bears  Mark's  name  was 
written  under  Peter's  superintendence,  and  may  be  essentially 
regarded  as  Peter's  Gospel. 

It  is  said  that  Mark  was  sent  by  Peter  into  Egypt,  to  plant 
Christianity  in  those  parts.  Here,  having  his  main  residence 
at  Alexandria,  he  labored  with  such  diligence  and  success  that 
a  flourishing  Christian  church  was  ere  long  established ;  and 
the  evangelist  then  extended  his  labors  into  Libya,  and  still 

*  Col.iv.  10;  Philem.24.         f  2  Tim.  iv.  11.       %  1  Pet.  v.   13. 

vol  iv.  12 


266  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

further  west,  returning  always  to  Alexandria.  Certain  it  is  that 
the  Christian  church  in  Egypt  has  always  regarded  St.  Mark 
as  its  founder. 

It  is  stated  by  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  that  Mark  sur- 
vived both  Peter  and  Paul  until  the  eighth  year  of  Nero's 
reign,  when  the  populace,  during  the  excitement  of  the  feast 
of  Serapis,  broke  into  the  church  during  divine  worship,  and 
binding  Mark's  feet  with  cords,  dragged  him  through  the 
streets,  and  at  night-fall  thrust  him,  still  alive,  into  prison. 
During  the  night  he  was  comforted  and  sustained  by  a  divine 
vision.  But  next  morning  the  mob  drew  him  forth,  and 
dragged  him  about  again,  till  the  flesh  being  torn  off  his  bones, 
and  all  the  blood  in  his  body  spent,  he  rendered  up  his  soul  to 
God.  His  remains  were  then  burnt ;  but  the  Christians  gath 
ered  up  the  ashes  and  the  charred  bones,  and  decently  depos- 
ited them  at  the  spot  where  he  used  to  preach. 

Mark  is,  as  to  his  person,  described  as  of  a  strong  and 
healthful  frame,  in  a  body  of  middle  size  and  stature.  His 
head  was  bald,  but  his  grey  beard  ample.  His  eyes  were 
noted  for  their  gentle  and  amiable  expression,  while  his  re- 
verted eyebrows  and  lengthened  nose  give  him  a  somewhat 
peculiar  aspect.  The  further  intimation  that  his  gait  was 
quick  and  his  movements  sudden  and  rapid,  agrees  well  enough 
with  the  kind  of  temperament  which  the  description  of  his 
person  indicates. 


PERSECUTIONS. 2  TIM.  III.  10-12;   2  COR.  XI.  23-29. 

When,  towards  the  close  of  his  career,  Paul  is  writing  to 
Timothy,  he  makes  a  deeply-interesting  allusion  to  the  cir- 
cumstances which  now  engage  our  attention.  "  Thou  hast 
fully  known,"  he  says  to  that  beloved  disciple,  "  my  doctrine, 
manner  of  life,  purpose,  faith,  long-suffering,  charity,  patience, 


PERSECUTIONS.  267 

persecutions,  afflictions,  which  came  upon  me  at  Antioch,  at 
Iconium,  at  Lystra :  what  persecutions  I  endured,  but  out  of 
them  all  the  Lord  delivered  me.  Yea,  and  all  that  will  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution." 

Here  the  apostle  alludes  to  afflictions  and  persecutions  with 
which  the  history  makes  us  acquainted  ;  but  these,  even  all 
that  are  written,  though  enough  is  written  for  our  profit,  form 
but  a  part  of  the  trials  of  his  entire  career,  of  which  Timothy 
knew  more  than  we  shall  ever  in  this  world  know.  We  have, 
however,  an  abridgment  of  his  life,  written  by  his  own  hand, 
and  what  a  record  of  suffering  and  trial  it  is !  Some  of  the 
particulars  to  which  he  refers  we  can  trace,  but  many  of  them 
we  do  not  recognize  among  the  recorded  facts  of  his  history. 
"  Are  they  ministers  of  Christ  ?  I  speak  as  a  fool :  I  am 
more.  In  labors  more  abundant,  in  stripes  above  measure,  in 
prisons  more  frequent,  in  deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times 
received  I  forty  stripes  save  one.  Thrice  I  was  beaten  with 
rods,  once  I  was  stoned,  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck,  a  night 
and  a  day  I  have  been  in  the  deep;  in  journeyings  often, 
in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  mine 
own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in 
the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in 
perils  among  false  brethren  ;  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in 
watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold 
and  nakedness.  Besides  those  things  that  are  without,  that 
which  cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the  churches. 
Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not  weak  ?  who  is  offended,  and  I 
burn  not?"*  And  this  terrible  catalogue  of  sufferings  was 
written,  it  will  be  observed,  during  that  long  residence  at 
Ephesus,  recorded  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Acts,  when 
Paul  had  hardly  completed  two-thirds  of  his  course,  and  he 
had  still  ten  years  to  labor — that  is,  to  suffer,  in  his  Master's 
cause.  Thus  largely  had  the  Lord  fulfilled  the  promise  made 
at  his  call  to  his  great  work :  "  I  will  show  him  how  great 
things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name  sake."f 

And  was  this  vocation  of  suffering  peculiar  to  Paul  and  to 
*  2  Cor.  xi.  38-4*.  f  Acts  is.  16. 


268  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

the  times  in  which  he  lived  ?  Let  this  question  be  answered 
by  another :  "  Then  is  the  offence  of  the  cross  ceased  ?"  It  is 
to  preclude  this  idea  that  the  apostle  adds,  "  Yea,  and  all  that 
will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus,  shall  suffer  persecution." 
Doubtless,  in  thus  speaking  to  Timothy,  he  had  a  leading  refer- 
ence to  the  then  present  time,  and  meant  to  impress  upon 
him  that  he  was  not  to  expect  exemption  from  the  like  suffer- 
ings. But  that  he  did  not  limit  his  meaning  to  this  applica- 
tion, is  clear  from  the  exceedingly  general  terms  in  which  this 
declaration  is  made  :  "  All ;"  all  that  do  what  ?  Not  merely 
all  who,  like  himself,  went  forth  into  the  active  warfare  against 
"  principalities  and  powers"  for  Christ's  sake,  but  all  who  will 
do  what  every  sincere  Christian  must  do  in  all  ages — "All 
who  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus."  Conformable  to  this  is 
the  intimation  which  Paul  and  Barnabas  made  to  the  converts 
generally,  as  they  returned  upon  their  former  steps  in  this 
very  journey  :  "  exhorting  them  to  continue  in  the  faith,  and 
that  we  must  through  much  tribulation  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."*  Here,  again,  is  an  object  and  aim  common  to  all 
believers  in  every  age.  Our  Lord's  own  declarations  are  en- 
tirely to  the  same  purport. 

The  thing  is,  indeed,  plain  and  inevitable  as  a  matter  of  dec- 
laration ;  and  if  it  were  not  of  declaration,  it  might  be  made  clear 
by  invincible  reasoning.  We  know  that  "  whatever  is  in  the 
world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of 
ife,  is  not  of  the  Father  but  of  the  world."  f  These  are  the  things 
,he  carnal  mind  seeks  after  and  rests  on.  But  "  the  carnal  mind 
&  at  enmity  with  God  f%  and  necessarily, "  the  friendship  of  the 
tvorld  is  enmity  with  God."§  He,  therefore,  who  takes  up  his 
?ross  to  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth ;  he  who  "  will 
live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus,"  does,  by  that  act  and  purpose,  turn 
his  back  upon  the  world,  and  renounce  that  friendship  which  is 
at  enmity  with  God.  The  world  will  then  be  affronted,  and 
its  hostility  roused.  In  some  ages  and  countries  it  will  be 
shown  after  this  manner ;  and  in  other  ages  and  countries, 
after  that ;  but  shown  it  will  be,  in  some  form  or  other.  If 
*  Acts  xiv.  22.      f  1  John  ii.  16.       \  Rom.  viii.  7.       §  James  iv.  4. 


PERSECUTION.  269 

our  religion  be  of  that  neutral  tint  that  rouses  not  the  enmity 
of  the  world ;  if  the  world  cannot,  from  our  walk  and  conver- 
sation, take  knowledge  of  us  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus, 
we  may  then  indeed  escape  this ;  but  woe  unto  us,  if  we  so 
escape  !  And  let  us  look  well  to  ourselves  if  our  religion  be 
of  that  sort  which  the  world  regards  with  no  distaste,  which 
does  not  provoke  its  hostility,  which  is  compatible  with  the 
retention  of  its  friendship. 

In  this  age  and  country  we  have  not  now  to  expect  the 
lash,  the  rack,  the  fagot,  or  the  sword  ;  but  it  is  not  the  less 
true  that  those  who  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  must  suffer 
persecution.  There  is  the  alienation  of  relatives  and  friends, 
there  is  the  forfeiture  of  many  social  advantages,  there  is  the 
exclusion  of  men  from  the  society  they  are  fitted  to  adorn  and 
improve.  There  is  the  quiet  neglect,  the  cold  shrug,  the  con- 
temptuous sneer,  the  derisive  laugh,  the  unworthy  deprecia- 
tion. There  is  the  distress  of  witnessing  the  brightest,  or  at 
least  most  popular  intellects  of  the  age,  employed  in  system- 
atically or  habitually  holding  up  all  really  serious  religion  to 
contempt  and  scorn,  as  so  much  cant  and  hypocrisy,  swindle, 
or  foolishness. 

All  this,  however,  was  to  be  expected.  These,  and  things 
like  these,  make  up  the  burden  of  that  cross  which  our  Master 
calls  us  to  take  up  and  bear  after  Him.  Indeed,  if  our  religion 
be  of  that  kind  which  can  bear  the  eye  of  man,  which  can  es- 
cape his  contumely,  it  is  questionable  how  far  it  will  bear  the 
eye  of  God. 

There  is,  in  fact,  less  of  this  persecution  now  than  formerly. 
Religion  is  a  more  comfortable  thing.  The  world  seems  to 
hate  it  less  intensely,  and  even,  to  a  large  extent,  regards  it  as 
a  decent  and  creditable  thing.  How  is  this  ?  Has  the  world 
become  less  worldly  ?  Has  its  enmity  to  the  things  of  God 
abated  ?  Or  is  it  that  the  church  has  become  more  worldly  ? 
Has  it  kept  out  of  the  world's  sight,  and  even  out  of  its  own 
sight,  those  holy  roughnesses  on  its  fair  but  earnest  face,  at 
which  the  world  took  most  offence  ?  We  tremble  to  press  too 
closely  for  an  answer  to  this  question,  and  prefer  to  offer  the 


270  FORTY-EIGHTH   WEEK — SUNDAY. 

words  of  a  wise  and  eloquent  preacher,  which  bear  very  dis- 
tinctly on  this  question.  "If  you  share  the  feelings  with 
which  St.  Paul  has  inspired  me,  and  which  continue  to  grow 
by  the  renewed  study  of  his  life  ;  if  you  have  been  penetrated 
with  veneration,  with  gratitude,  and  with  love,  for  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles,  I  rejoice  at  this,  but  only  on  one  condition  : 
it  is,  that  you  do  not  stop  there  ;  it  is,  that  you  will  seek  for 
yourselves  that  which  you  praise  in  him  ;  it  is,  that  you  will 
not  dispense  with  the  duty  of  imitation  for  the  pleasure  of 
admiration ;  it  is,  in  short,  that  you  will  not  deceive  yourselves 
by  substituting  this  fine  but  fruitless  word,  '  Be  admirers  of 
me,'  for  that  earnest  and  fruitful  one  ventured  on  by  the  holy 
apostle,  '  Be  ye  followers  of  me.'     .     .     . 

"  If,  indeed,  your  tastes  are  for  worldly  things,-  for  worldly 
glory,  for  worldly  fortune,  for  worldy  satisfaction,  or  even  for 
worldly  affections,  do  not  trust  yourselves  to  the  example  of 
St.  Paul  and  to  the  application  which  I  make  of  it.  It  is  not 
without  significance,  that  while  hearing  me  speak  of  imitating 
him,  you  perceive  within  yourselves  an  unseen  hand  hastening 
to  protect  your  money,  your  comforts,  your  human  renown, 
and  your  idolatrous  attachments.  This  movement  has  the 
promptness  of  an  instinct,  but  it  is  also  an  intelligent  one. 
All  this  hoard  of  selfish  pleasure,  you  risk  its  loss  by  engaging 
to  imitate  St.  Paul.  The  sacrifice  was  demanded  of  him,  and 
he  made  it ;  it  may  be  required  of  you  also,  and  it  will  be 
the  more  painful  in  proportion  to  that  which  is  sacrificed. 
Ah  !  if  Jesus  Christ  were  to  require  you  to  exchange  the 
general  good  opinion  which  you  enjoy,  for  the  humiliations 
of  his  life  and  the  opprobrium  of  his  death  :  the  riches  which 
abound  in  your  houses,  for  the  abasement  and  destitution  of 
bis  poverty, — mark  that,  his  poverty  ;  that  comfortable  life, 
that  delicate  bringing-up,  all  those  desires  gratified  as  soon  a3 
formed,  for  the  privations,  the  disquietudes,  the  sufferings  of 
the  body  ;  the  intense  solicitude,  or  the  sweet  society  of  those 
dearly-loved  ones,  who  are  the  delight  of  your  eyes  and  the 
joy  of  your  heart,  for  separation,  bereavement,  and  bitter  soli- 
tude.    Do  you  think  within  yourselves  that  you  would  be 


ANTIOCH    IN    PISIDIA.  27 i 

read)  to  bear  the  loss  of  all  things,  so  that  you  may  win 
Christ  ?  If  you  can  say  with  St.  Peter,  '  I  am  ready  to  go 
with  thee  both  to  prison  and  to  death,'  it  only  remains  that 
you  examine  yourselves,  lest  you  should  be  deceiving  your- 
selves. But  if  you  inwardly  answer,  '  This  is  a  hard  saying, 
who  can  bear  it  V  all  is  said.  I  do  not  here  decide  whether 
your  soul  can  be  saved  such  as  you  are ;  but  it  is  very  cer- 
tain, such  as  you  are  you  will  not  be  a  follower  of  St.  Paul."* 


FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

ANTIOCH    IN    PISIDIA. ACTS  XIII.  14. 

From  Perga  in  Pamphylia,  Paul  and  Barnabas  proceeded 
across  the  mountains  to  Antioch,  in  the  province  of  Pisidia, 
which  lay  between  Pamphylia  on  the  south  and  Phrygia  on 
the  north.  Whether,  in  this  journey  of  eighty-five  miles  into 
the  interior,  Paul  met  with  any  of  those  perilous  encounters 
with  robbers,  to  which  he  refers  in  one  of  his  epistles,  is  not 
stated ;  but  the  nature  of  the  road  renders  this  abundantly 
probable.  This  Antioch  was  one  of  the  towns  of  the  same 
name  founded  by  Seleucus  Nicanor,  and  the  name  of  the 
province  in  which  it  stood  was  usually  added,  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  others,  and  particularly  from  the  great  metropolitan 
Antioch.  When  it  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans  it 
was  made  the  seat  of  a  proconsular  government,  and  endowed 
with  the  privileges  of  a  colonia  juris  Italici,  which  included 
exemption  from  taxes,  and  a  municipal  constitution  similar  to 
that  of  the  Italian  towns.  These  privileges  were  calculated  to 
attract  a  Jewish  population  ;  and,  accordingly,  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas find  here  a  synagogue  of  Jews,  and  a  considerable  body 
of  proselytes  to  Judaism.  Until  lately,  Antioch  in  Pisidia  was 
supposed  to  have  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  Ak-Shehr, 
or  White  City  of  the  Turks ;  hut  the  researches  of  the  Rev. 

*  St.  Paul :  Five  Discourses.    By  A.  Moxod. 


272  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK — MONDAY. 

F.  V.  Arundell  in  1833,  confirmed  by  the  still  more  recent 
observations  of  Mr.  Hamilton,*  have  determined  its  site  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  town  of  Yalobatch.  There  are  here  remains  of 
several  temples  and  churches,  besides  a  theatre,  and  a  mag- 
nificent aqueduct,  twenty-one  arches  of  which  still  remain  en- 
tire. Several  Latin  inscriptions  were  here  copied  by  Mr. 
Hamilton,  in  one  of  which  the  only  words  not  entirely  effaced 
were  Antiochijs  CjESAri,  which  is  important  for  the  identi- 
fication of  the  place,  as  it  is  stated  by  Pliny  that  Antioch  in 
Pisidia  was  also  called  Csesarea. 

On  the  Sabbath  after  their  arrival,  the  two  apostles  "  went 
into  the  synagogue,  and  sat  down."  The  latter  intimation  is 
emphatic,  if,  as  Lightfoot  assures  us,  their  sitting  down  on 
entering  was  sufficient  to  apprize  the  elders  of  the  synagogue 
that  the  strangers  were  persons  accustomed  to  teach  or  preach. 
Accordingly,  "  after  the  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets," 
the  rulers  of  the  synagogue  courteously  caused  it  to  be  inti- 
mated to  them  that  they  might  then  deliver  any  "  word  of 
exhortation"  to  the  congregation,  if  they  desired  to  do  so. 
Here  it  is  well  to  observe,  that  they  were  not  asked  to  read,  as 
our  Saviour  had  been  asked  in  the  synagogue  of  Nazareth — 
it  being  unusual  for  any  one  to  be  called  upon  to  read  in  any 
synagogue  but  that  to  which  he  belonged.  Accordingly,  al- 
though our  Lord  taught  in  many  synagogues,  he  is  not  record- 
ed to  have  read  in  any  but  that  of  Nazareth.  The  "  word  of 
exhortation,"  or  sermons,  which  the  apostles  were  invited  to 
deliver,  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  exposition  of  Scrip- 
ture which  our  Saviour  delivered  on  the  occasion  indicated. 
It  was  a  distinct  matter,  after  the  regular  service  of  the  day 
had  been  completed.  A  discourse  by  some  competent  person 
then  usually,  but  not  always,  nor  necessarily,  followed.  There 
was  no  regular  officer  on  whom  the  duty  of  delivering  this 
discourse  devolved,  but  any  qualified  person  who  happened  to 
be  present  was  asked,  or  offered  himself,  to  address  the  con- 
gregation. 

*  Arundell,  Discoveries  in  Asia  Minor,  1834;  Hamilton,  Re- 
searches in  Asia  Minor,  1842. 


ANTIOC'H    IN    PISIDIA.  278 

As  the  Jews  resident  in  foreign  parts  had  less  abundant 
opportunities  of  obtaining  instruction  in  this  shape  than  those 
in  Judea,  they  were,  doubtless,  all  the  more  anxious  to  take 
advantage  of  such  occasions  as  offered.  Hence  the  present 
application  to  Paul  and  Barnabas,  who  had  intimated,  by  sit- 
ting down  wrhen  they  entered,  that  they  were  accustomed  to 
teach  in  the  synagogues. 

It  was  Paul,  not  Barnabas,  who  responded  to  the  call.  He 
stood  up,  and  after  his  usual  manner,  by  "  beckoning  with  his 
hand,"  and  by  corresponding  words,  invited  attention  to  his 
discourse,  "  Men  of  Israel,  and  ye  who  fear  God,  give  au- 
dience." Then  followed  a  well-arranged  and  convincing  dis- 
course— one  of  the  longest  reported  in  the  Acts — in  which 
he  gradually  led  his  hearers  through  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  to  the  promise  of  a  Messiah,  which  promise  he  de- 
clared to  be  fulfilled  in  the  person  of  Jesus,  as  evinced  by  the 
fact  that  He  had  been  raised  from  the  dead.  Through  Him, 
he  now,  therefore,  was  enabled  to  preach  "  the  forgiveness  of 
sins ;  and  that  by  Him  all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all 
things  from  which  they  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of 
Moses."  This  was  very  vital  doctrine,  and  it  made  a  profound 
impression  upon  those  who  now  heard  it  for  the  first  time  ; 
and  many  of  them,  on  leaving  the  synagogue,  pressed  around 
the  apostles,  and  begged  them  that  "  these  words" — mean- 
ing the  same  matter — might  again  be  preached  to  them,  or 
rather  more  fully  opened  to  them,  on  the  next  Sabbath-day. 
And  when  the  mass  of  the  congregation  had  dispersed,  there 
were  still  many,  both  Jews  and  proselytes,  more  strongly  than 
the  others  smitten  by  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  who  walked 
along  with  or  near  the  apostles,  as  if  reluctant  to  part  from 
them,  in  their  hunger  for  spiritual  nourishment.  But  these 
were  at  length  kindly  dismissed,  with  the  injunction  that,  till 
the  next  meeting,  they  should  sedulously  cherish  the  good  im- 
pressions they  had  already  received. 

Doubtless  many  of  those  who  had  been  thus  impressed  in- 
vited Paul  and  Barnabas  to  their  houses  during  the  ensuing 
week,  and  enabled  them  to  declare  the  history  and  doctrine  of 
12* 


'274  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK MONDAY. 

Christ  more  fully  to  these  inquirers  and  their  circles  si  friends. 
Thus  and  by  other  means  was  the  intensity  of  the  first  excite- 
ment deepened.  It  even  extended  to  the  Gentiles,  the  nature 
of  whose  interest  in  such  matters  has  been  lately  explained  ; 
and  many  of  them  were  found  among  the  crowd  that  flocked 
to  the  Jewish  synagogue  on  the  next  Sabbath-day.  The 
stricter  Jews  beheld  this  concourse  of  Gentiles  with  an  evil 
eye  ;  and  the  eager  curiosity  which  they  manifested,  as  in  a 
matter  with  which  they  had  some  concern,  alarmed  their  pride 
and  excited  their  displeasure ;  the  rather  when  they  called  to 
mind  that  Paul  had  in  fact,  on  the  last  Sabbath,  opened  his 
commission  in  very  wide  terms,  and  had  plainly  enough  in- 
timated the  cessation  of  their  exclusive  privileges,  and  the 
abolition  of  their  ritual  system.  Influenced  by  such  feelings, 
these  persons  clamorously  opposed  Paul  in  his  present  dis- 
course, "  contradicting"  his  main  positions,  and  "  blaspheming" 
that  blessed  name  which  he  declared  to  be  above  every  name 
that  is  named. 

The  contrast  between  the  blind  rage  of  the  Jews  and  the 
earnest  solicitude  of  the  Gentiles  on  this  occasion,  forcibly 
struck  the  apostles.  They  felt  that  the  time  for  resolute  de- 
cision, for  openly  unfurling  the  banner  of  the  cross  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Gentiles,  was  fully  come.  They  therefore  si- 
lenced the  clamor  with  these  grave  and  solemn  words  :  "  It 
was  necessary  that  the  word  of  God  should  first  have  been 
spoken  to  you ;  but  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge 
yourselves  unworthy  of  eternal  life — Lo,  we  turn  to  the 
Gentiles  !"  Nor  would  they  let  it  be  supposed  for  an  in- 
stant that  this  was  a  mere  caprice  or  ebullition  of  wrath  on 
their  part.  They  produced  their  authority :  t;  For  so  hath 
the  Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  to  be  a  light 
of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldest  be  for  salvation  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth." 

This  bold  declaration  seems  to  have  struck  the  Jews  dumb 
with  amazement.  But  the  Gentiles  were  very  glad.  And 
they  had  reason,  for  from  this  time  forward  Paul  held  forth 
the  gospel  freely  and  openly  to  Gentile  audiences  whenever 


PAUL    AND    BARNABAS    AT    LYSTRA.  275 

the  opportunity  offered  or  was  found,  although  the  Jews  en- 
gaged a  full  share  of  his  labors  and  hopes  in  the  various 
places  to  which  he  came.  Now,  at  Antioch  he  and  Barnabas 
ceased  to  present  themselves  to  the  notice  of  the  Jews,  but 
prosecuted  their  evangelical  labors  exclusively  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, in  public  places  and  private  houses.  Thus  some  time 
was  occupied  ;  so  that  the  word  of  the  Lord  was  fully  preached 
with  great  success  throughout  all  that  neighborhood. 

The  Jews  could  not  endure  this  ;  and  therefore  stirred  up 
"  the  devout  and  honorable  women" — probably  proselytes, 
whose  husbands  were  men  of  consequence  in  the  city — to  use 
their  influence  with  "  the  chief  men,"  to  procure  the  expulsion 
of  the  apostles.  They  succeeded,  and  Paul  and  Barnabas  left 
the  city,  shaking  off  the  dust  of  their  feet  for  a  testimony 
against  it. 


FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

PAUL  AND  BARNABAS  AT  LYSTRA. ACTS  XIV. 

From  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  the  apostolic  travellers  turned  their 
steps  eastward  in  the  direction  of  Lycaonia,  and  traversing  the 
barren  uplands,  at  length,  after  a  journey  of  ninety-three  miles, 
descended  into  the  plain  in  which  Iconium,  the  capital  of  that 
province,  stood.  Here  mountains,  whose  summits  lie  in  the 
region  of  perpetual  snow,  arise  on  every  side,  except  towards 
the  east,  where  a  plain  as  flat  as  the  desert  of  Arabia  extends 
far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  eye.  The  town  was  pleasantly 
situated  in  a  delightful  climate,  and  in  the  midst  of  luxuriant 
gardens  and  fertile  fields.  Iconium  was  not,  however,  a  city 
of  great  ancient  importance,  or  of  any  historical  renown.  It 
rose  to  greatness  in  far  later  times,  when,  under  the  name  of 
Konieh,  it  became  the  residence  of  the  Seljukian  sultai  s  of 
Roum,  who  rebuilt  the  walls,  and  enriched  it  with  numerous 
public  buildings, — reigning  here  in  great  splendor,  till  their 
power  was  broken  by  the  irruptions  of  Genghiz  Khan  and  hia 


276  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK — TUESDAY. 

grandson  Hulokoo.  Since  the  reign  of  Bayazid,  it  has  be- 
longed to  the  Osmanli  Turks,  and  under  them  it  flourished  for 
a  long  time  as  the  capital  of  the  extensive  province  of  Kara- 
mania,  and  the  seat  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  pashalics  of 
the  empire.  But  in  recent  times  it  has  suffered  much  deline, 
and  shows  an  aspect  of  decay  and  desolation.  The  city  has, 
indeed,  still  an  imposing  appearance,  from  the  number  and 
size  of  its  mosques,  colleges,  and  other  public  buildings.  But 
these  stately  evidences  of  Seljukian  splendor  are  seen,  on  the 
nearer  view,  to  be  crumbling  into  ruins,  while  the  actual 
dwellings  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  consist  of  a 
number  of  small  buildings  of  sun-dried  bricks,  and  wretched 
hovels  thatched  with  reeds.  The  wall  of  the  city,  which  is 
thirty  feet  high,  with  a  circumference  of  nearly  three  miles, 
has  eighty  gates,  and  is  strengthened  by  upwards  of  a  hundred 
square  towers,  which  are  now,  however,  suffered  to  moulder 
away,  without  any  attempt  to  arrest  their  ruin.  Although  so 
much  declined,  Konieh  is  still  one  of  the  most  considerable 
inland  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  the  population  rather  exceeding 
40,000  souls.  Of  Greek  and  Roman  Iconium  there  are 
scarcely  any  traces,  unless  in  the  inscribed  stones  and  frag- 
ments of  sculptures  which  are  built  into  the  walls. 

At  Iconium  nearly  the  same  course  was  taken  by  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  nearly  the  same  incidents  occurred,  as  at  An- 
tioch.  They  began  their  labors  in  the  Jewish  synagogue  ; 
and  their  preaching  was  so  blessed  of  the  Spirit  that  "  great 
multitudes  both  of  Jews  and  Greeks  believed."  The  Jews 
who  did  not  believe,  however,  now  excited  the  minds  of  the 
Gentiles  against  the  converts  ;  and  it  was  natural  enough  that 
attention  should  be  paid  to  their  calumnies,  since  the  Jews 
might  be  supposed  to  know  something  of  the  designs  and 
objects  of  a  religion  which  was  connected  with  and  grew  out 
of  their  own.  The  result  was  the  formation  of  two  parties  in 
the  city,  the  one  for  and  the  other  against  the  apostles  and 
their  doctrine.  The  post  had  thus  become  one  of  danger  ; 
but  reluctant  to  quit  it,  seeing  that  so  much  good  might  be 
done,  and  that  they  were  greatly  sustained  by  the  miracles 


PAUL    AND    BARNABAS    AT    LYSTRA.  211 

Jvhich  attested  the  truth  of  their  mission,  the  apostles  lingered 
for  some  time,  and  only  retired  when  they  had  certain  infor- 
mation of  a  conspiracy  being  laid  to  destroy  them. 

They  then  proceeded  to  "  Lystra  and  Derbe" — Lystra  first, 
and  Derbe  after.  The  sites  of  both  these  places  are  unknown  ; 
but  Colonel  Leake*  was  inclined  to  think  that  "  the  vestiges 
of  Lystra  may  be  sought  for,  with  the  greatest  probability  of 
success,  at  or  near  Wiran  Khatoun,  or  Khatoun  Serai,  about 
thirty  miles  to  the  southward  of  Iconium."  Mr.  Hamilton, 
however,  prefers  to  find  Lystra  in  a  site  of  extensive  ruins, 
called  by  the  Turks  Bin-bir-Kilissek  (1,001  churches),  at  the 
northern  base  and  side  of  a  remarkable  insulated  mountain 
called  KaraDagh  (Black  Mountain).  This  is  about  forty- 
three  miles  south-east  of  Konieh.  Some  fifteen  miles  east  of 
this  is  a  site  called  Devli,  and  from  the  resemblance  of  names, 
together  with  the  presence  of  some  ruins,  Mr.  Hamilton  thinks 
this  may  have  been  Derbe.f 

Lystra  is  the  first  place  the  apostles  visit,  at  which  we  hear 
nothing  of  resident  Jews,  or  of  any  synagogue.  The  trans- 
actions are  with  the  heathen,  until  certain  Jews  come  from 
Antioch  and  Iconium,  purposely  to  stir  up  the  people  against 
them.  There  were  probably,  however,  some  Jews,  if  not 
many ;  and  it  is  doubtless  because  the  principal  transaction 
commemorated  in  this  visit  was  with  the  Gentiles,  that  the 
presence  of  Jews  is  not  conspicuously  denoted. 

Here  Paul  and  Barnabas  seem  to  have  addressed  the  peo- 
ple in  the  places  of  public  resort,  or  in  those  open  spaces  where 
a  fit  audience  could  be  found  or  gathered.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  Paul  perceived  among  the  auditors  a  poor  cripple 
listening  with  eager  attention  to  his  discourse.  This  man  had 
an  infirmity  of  the  feet  from  his  birth,  and  had  never  walked. 
Such  persons  are  usually  well  known  in  the  localities  which 
they  inhabit,  and  anything  that  happened  to  him  would  at- 
tract the  more  attention.     Paul,  therefore,  feeling  probably 

*  Journal  of  a  Tour  in  Asia  Minor,  p.  102.     London  :  1824. 
|  Journal  of  Geographical  Society,  viii.  pt.  ii.  154. 


278  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

that  it  was  desirable  some  signal  and  intelligible  miracle  should 
in  such  a  place  as  this  avouch  the  authority — not  of  men,  nor 
by  men — by  which  they  spoke,  and  being  also  moved  with 
compassion  for  this  poor  creature's  state,  looked  steadfastly 
upon  him,  and  perceiving  by  his  spiritual  gifts,  or  by  the  an- 
swering look  of  the  cripple's  eyes,  or  by  both,  that  "  he  had 
faith  to  be  healed,"  he  called  to  him  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Stand 
upright  on  thy  feet !"  and  instantly  the  man  sprung  to  his 
feet,  and  leaped,  and  walked.  This  miracle  is  parallel  to  those 
of  the  same  kind  wrought  by  our  Lord  himself,  and  to  the  one 
wrought  by  Peter  and  John  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  ;  and  the 
same  remarks  which  were  offered  with  respect  to  them  apply 
equally  to  this. 

This  prodigy  attracted  fully  as  much  attention  as  might 
have  been  expected  ;  but  the  admiration  it  excited  had  a  re- 
sult upon  which  the  apostles  had  not  calculated.  It  centred 
in  their  own  persons ;  and  it  may  be  that  some  little  occa- 
sion may  have  been  given  for  this,  by  the  remarkable  fact 
that  Paul,  for  some  reason  or  other,  or,  perhaps,  without  any 
particular  reason,  omitted  the  usual  formula,  expressive  of 
agency  merely,  as,  "  In  the  name  of  Jesus  ;"  "  Jesus  maketh 
thee  whole ;"  and  the  like.  If  this  was  an  oversight,  they 
were  painfully  reminded  of  it  soon.  For  the  people,  in  the 
first  burst  of  their  enthusiasm,  took  them  to  be  gods  visiting 
the  earth  in  human  form  :  "  they  lifted  up  their  voices,  say- 
ing, in  the  speech  of  Lycaonia,  the  gods  are  come  down  to  us 
in  the  likeness  of  men."  By  this  pointed  reference  to  the 
speech  or  dialect  of  Lycaonia,  it  seems  probable  that  in  these 
rude  outlying  districts  a  kind  of  low  Greek  was  spoken,  greatly 
changed  by  pronunciation,  and  by  the  intermixture  of  old 
native  words,  from  the  more  correct  and  polished  language 
of  the  larger  cities  nearer  the  coast. 

The  notion  that  these  wonder-workers  were  gods — that  they 
were  gods  who  had  taken  upon  them  human  shape  in  visiting 
the  earth — was  one  that  would  be  naturally  enough  suggested 
under  the  older  and  more  credulous  forms  of  Gentile  belief, 
which  still  held  their  ground  in  remote  quarters  like  this, 


PAUL    AND    BARNABAS    AT    LTSTRA. 


219 


though  nearly  obsolete  in  the  more  refined  and  sceptical  cir- 
cles of  heathendom.  That  the  gods  did  often  visit  earth  in 
the  likeness  of  men  was  a  cherished  belief,  and  indeed  the 
popular  mythology  abounded  in  instances  of  this,  not  all  of 
them,  nor  indeed  many  of  them,  creditable  to  the  gods  them- 
selves. 

Taking  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  be  gods,  the  Lystrians  soon 
settled  what  gods  they  were.  Jupiter  (Zeus)  was  the  tutelary 
god  of  their  city,  and  they  had  a  temple,  or  at  least  a  statue 
dedicated  to  him.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  to  suppose  that 
one  of  the  two  was  Jupiter,  who  had  come  to  visit  and  bless 
his  own  place.  One  might  imagine  that  since  Paul  was  the 
more  active  and  prominent  person  of  the  two,  and  that  it  was 
indeed  at  his  word  the  cripple  had  been  healed,  they  would 
have  selected  him  for  Jupiter.  They  did,  however,  fix  on 
Barnabas,  perhaps  because  he  was  of  huge  athletic  person 
and  venerable  presence,  answering  better  than  Paul  to  that 
idea  of  "  the  father  of  gods  and  men,"  which  the  sculptors  had 
embodied  in  marble.     The  curious  cut  here  introduced  repre- 


sents Zeus  under  that  aspect — as  tutelary  or  guardian  deity 
(Jupiter  Custos) — in  which  he  was  worshipped  by  the  Lys- 


280 


FOUTY-EJGHTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 


trians.  Their  image  of  him,  to  which  they  found  a  resem- 
blance in  Barnabas,  must  have  been  like  this.  Having  con- 
cluded that  Barnabas  was  Jupiter,  it  was  easy  to  conceive  that 
Paul  was  "  Mercurius,"  the  Hermes  of 
the  Greeks.  And  the  reason  is,  in  this 
instance,  given.  It  is,  "  Because  he  was 
the  chief  speaker ;"  and  probably,  also, 
because,  as  Mercury  was  the  messenger 
of  the  gods,  and  particularly  of  Jupiter, 
it  might  be  naturally  concluded  that  it 
was  he  who  now  appeared  in  his  com- 
pany. In  fact,  notwithstanding  the 
active  prominence  of  his  friend,  these 
Lystrians  seem  throughout  to  assign 
the  superior  place  to  Barnabas,  prob- 
ably not  only  on  account  of  Paul's  comparatively  insignificant 
bodily  presence,  but  from  conceiving  that  he,  as  Mercury,  may 
have  been  acting  and  speaking  instrumentally  for  Jupiter,  as 
it  was  often  his  vocation  to  do.  Mercury,  as  every  one  knows, 
was,  in  his  higher  quality,  the  god  of  eloquence  ;  and,  in  his 
lower  quality,  was  the  frequent  companion  of  Jupiter  in  his 
rambles  upon  the  earth.  It  is  in  that  capacity,  as  the  attend- 
ant or  messenger  of  Jove,  that  he  is  represented  in  the  fine 
intaglio  from  which  the  cut  we  introduce  is  taken. 

When  the  news  had  spread  that  Zeus  and  Hermes  had 
honored  Lystra  with  their  presence,  the  priest  of  Jupiter  has- 
tened to  take  his  part  in  the  proceedings.  Soon  he  and  his 
attendants  appeared,  with  "  oxen  and  garlands,"  to  lead  the 
sacrificial  devotions  of  the  people  to  the  descended  gods.  The 
use  of  the  "  garlands"  has  been  considered  uncertain.  From 
the  sculptures  it,  however,  appears  that  on  the  occasion  of  a 
sacrifice,  the  party  of  sacrificers  were  usually  crowned  with 
garlands,  and  the  altar  hung  with  festoons  of  flowers,  and  that 
sometimes  the  victims  also  were  thus  decorated.  In  the  sculp- 
ture at  Rome,  which  furnished  to  Raphael  that  correct  idea 
of  an  ancient  sacrifice,  which  he  has  embodied  in  his  well- 
known  cartoon  of  the  event  before  us,  these   particulars  are 


PAUL    AND    BARNABAS    AT    LYSTRA.  281 

represented,  except  that,  instead  of  garlands,  the  victim  (or 
rather,  one  of  the  two)  has  the  head  decorated  with  a  string 
of  beads  or  jewels.  The  garlands  were  composed  of  plants 
supposed  to  be  appropriate  or  acceptable  to  the  god  to  whom 
the  sacrifice  was  made. 

No  sooner  did  the  apostles  perceive  the  object  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, than  they  rent  their  clothes  and  rushed,  horror- 
struck,  among  the  people,  imploring  them  to  desist.  "  Men," 
said  they — or  rather  Paul,  for  he  was  manifestly  the  speaker 
— "  Men,#  why  do  ye  these  things  ?  We  also  are  men  of 
like  passions  with  you,  and  preach  unto  you  that  ye  should 
turn  from  these  vanities  unto  the  living  God,"  and  so  on,  in 
a  short  discourse,  which  is  probably  an  epitome  of  a  more 
ample  address  ;  although,  indeed,  on  such  occasions,  a  few 
emphatic  sentences  are  often  more  cogently  impressive  than  a 
longer  remonstrance.  The  people  were  reluctant  to  abandon 
a  delusion  so  gratifying  to  themselves  ;  and  it  was  not  without 
difficulty  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  at  length  succeeded  in 
averting  the  intended  sacrifice. 

A  revulsion  of  feeling  then  took  place  in  the  Lystrian  mind, 
for  which  we  can  readily  account ;  for  men  have  always  been 
apt  to  turn  vindictively  upon  those  on  whose  account  they 
have  stultified  themselves,  and  to  treat  as  less  than  men 
those  whom  they  have  been  ready  to  worship  as  gods. 

It  had  at  this  time  become  known,  at  the  Pisidian  Antioch 
and  at  Iconium,  where  the  apostles  were  to  be  found  ;  and 
some  Jews  went  from  both  places  with  the  express  object  of 
stirring  up  the  Lystrians  against  them.  The  apostles  were, 
before  and  after,  persecuted  often  by  the  Jews  in  the  places  to 
which  they  came ;  but  this  is  the  first  instance  of  their  being 
followed  from  one  city  to  another,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
persecution. 

The  disappointed  Lystrians  were  in  a  frame  of  mind  to 
listen  to  the  calumnies  of  these  Jews.  They  readily  grasped 
at  the  opportunity  of  recovering  their  self-esteem  by  regard- 

*  So  in  original,  which  is  certainly  better  than  the  "  Sirs"  of  the  Au- 
thorized Version. 


282  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK — TUESDAY. 

ing  themselves  as  the  innocent  victims  of  impostors.  So 
strongly  was  their  wrath  kindled,  that  they  stoned  Paul  on 
the  spot,  and  dragging  him  through  the  streets,  cast  him  forth, 
as  one  dead,  beyond  the  city.  The  Jews  would  first  have  hur- 
ried him  beyond  the  walls,  and  stoned  him  there,  as  they  did 
in  the  case  of  Stephen  ;  but  these  heathen  stoned  him  in  the 
city  tumultuously,  and  then  cast  his  body  forth.  These  small 
characteristic  differences  are  well  entitled  to  our  notice. 

Stoning  was  not  a  regular  punishment  among  the  Gentiles, 
as  among  the  Jews,  but  was  sometimes  the  result  of  a  tu- 
multuary excitement,  as  it  might  be  among  ourselves.  It  was, 
therefore,  not  performed  with  those  precautions  to  insure  a 
fatal  result  which  were  observed  among  the  Jews.  In  this 
case,  it  seems  that  Paul  had  not  been  killed,  but  only  ren- 
dered insensible  by  some  one  of  the  blows  he  had  receiv- 
ed. So,  as  the  believers  stood  lamenting  around  his  ap- 
parently dead  body,  he  came  to  himself,  and  returned  with 
them  into  the  city.  It  would,  however,  have  been  unwise  to 
make  any  longer  stay  in  Lystra,  and  therefore  he  departed  the 
next  day  with  Barnabas.  They  proceeded  to  Derbe ;  and 
having  preached  the  gospel  there,  they  returned  through  all 
the  towns  they  had  visited  in  the  outward  journey,  till  they 
came  to  Perga  in  Pamphylia,  where  they  had  landed  on  their 
arrival  from  Cyprus.  But  now,  purposing  to  return  to  Syria, 
they  did  not  proceed  down  the  river  Oestrus,  but  went  twelve 
miles  across  to  Attalia,  the  seaport  of  Perga,  where  they  might 
therefore  reckon  upon  finding  a  ship  bound  for  the  Syrian 
coast.  Here  accordingly  they  embarked,  and  in  due  time 
reached  Antioch  the  Great,  thus  completing  the  first  great 
missionary  tour  of  Paul  and  Barnabas. 


THE    COUNCIL.  283 

FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY . 

THE    COUNCIL. — ACTS  XV.  1-29  ;    GAL.   II.    3. 

It  is  stated  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  now  abode  for  a  long 
time  at  Antiocli  with  the  disciples.  This  "  long  time"  has  been 
variously  computed  from  five  to  eight  years,  during  which  we 
have  no  particular  account  of  their  proceedings,  and  which 
would  seem,  at  the  first  view,  to  measure  the  period  of  their 
stay  at  Antioch.  It  is,  however,  certain  that  Paul  made 
several  journeys  of  which  we  have  no  direct  narrative  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  it  is  possible  that  some  of  these  journeys 
may  be  assigned  to  this  interval.  Thus,  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Romans  (xv.  19),  he  states  that  he  had  preached  the  gospel 
as  far  as  Illyricum  ;  and  in  2  Cor.  xi.  22-27  there  is  a  long 
list  of  trials  and  persecutions,  respecting  many  of  which  there 
is  no  distinct  record,  and  which  may  possibly  have  occurred 
during  these  years. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  period,  whatever  its  duration,  be- 
gan that  contest  with  the  Judaists  by  which  Paul  was  after- 
wards so  largely  occupied.  It  commenced  by  the  arrival  at 
Antioch  of  certain  christianized  Pharisees  from  the  church  at 
Jerusalem.  These  persons  expressed  their  astonishment  and 
horror  at  the  fact,  that  the  initiatory  rite  of  Judaism  had  not 
been  imposed  upon  the  Gentile  converts,  nor  the  observance 
of  the  ritual  law  exacted  from  them.  They  insisted  that  the 
observance  of  the  Mosaic  law  was  essential  to  justification 
before  God,  and  assured  the  'converts  that  without  it  they 
could  not  be  saved.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  converts 
would  have  been  strongly  enough  built  up  in  the  more  lib- 
eral and  more  spiritual  doctrine  which  they  had  received  from 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  to  perceive  the  danger  and  fallacy  of 
such  views,  and  to  refuse  the  proposed  bondage  with  indig- 
nation. No  doubt  many  or  most  of  them  did  so;  but  it 
is  clear  that  the  minds  of  not  a  few  were  shaken,  and  cast 
into  a  state  of  uncertainty  and  doubt.     We  can  well  imagine 


284  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK WEDNE9DAY. 

the  arguments 'they  might  use;  and  that  they  were  plausible 
and  seemingly  strong,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  at 
a  later  date  Peter,  and  even  Barnabas  himself,  gave  way  for  a 
time  to  their  views.  They  would  argue,  that  seeing  the  laws 
of  Moses  were  certainly  from  God,  they  must  be  in  their  na- 
ture unchangeable.  They  would  maintain,  that  the  religion 
of  the  Messiah  was  only  a  perfecting  completion  of  Judaism, 
and  was  designed  to  carry  out  its  principles  according  to  the 
promises,  and  not  to  alter  or  destroy  aught  that  had  been 
divinely  instituted  ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  laxity  in  this  re- 
spect, which  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  sanctioned,  was  not  only 
unauthorized  but  dangerous.  The  controversy  which  thus 
arose,  on  these  matters,  in  the  church  at  Antiech,  produced 
such  painful  dissension,  that  it  was  at  length  deemed  advis- 
able that  Paul  and  Barnabas,  accompanied  by  some  leading 
men  in  that  church,  should  proceed  to  Jerusalem  in  order  to 
obtain  a  settlement  of  the  matter  from  the  apostles.  Paul 
himself  tells  us,  in  a  memorable  passage  of  his  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  that  he  went  "  by  revelation," — which  seems  to 
mean,  that  it  had  been  divinely  impressed  upon  him  or  com- 
municated to  him,  that  an  authoritative  determination  of  the 
question  in  this  way  had  become  essential  to  the  well-being  of 
the  church.  It  remains,  however,  doubtful,  whether  he  had 
objected  to  this  course  until  this  intimation  was  given,  or  that 
the  proposal  originated  with  him  in  consequence  of  this  "  rev- 
elation."    The  latter  appears  the  most  probable. 

In  their  way,  the  party  from  Antioch  seem  to  have  been 
attended  and  conducted  from  one  place  on  to  the  next,  by 
some  of  the  Christian  brethren  of  the  towns  to  which  they 
came,  and  by  whom  the  tidings  of  the  conversion  of  the  Gen- 
tiles was  received  with  "  great  joy." 

Thus  passing  through  Phoenicia  and  Samaria,  they  at  length 
reached  Jerusalem.  James,  Peter,  and  John  were  there ;  but 
whether  they  are  named  as  being  the  only  apostles  then  left 
in  the  city,  or  as  the  most  prominent  of  the  whole,  is  not 
clear.  But  the  statement  that  these  three  "  seemed  to  be 
pina!-"  miglU  hi>jv  jjv  somewhat  in  favor  of  the  latter  inter 


THE    COUNCIL.  285 

pretation,  were  it  not  altogether  unlikely  that  the  bulk  of  the 
apostles,  charged  as  they  were  with  a  mission  to  preach  the 
Gospel  through  the  world,  had  remained  for  so  long  a  period 
together  at  Jerusalem. 

The  apostles  and  brethren  from  Antioch  were  received  with 
much  Christian  friendliness  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  tidings  they 
brought  gave  general  satisfaction.  When,  however,  the  mat- 
ter in  dispute  came  to  be  explained,  signs  of  division  appear- 
ed. There  were  many  still  in  Jerusalem,  of  the  same  class 
and  the  same  mind  with  those  who  had  raised  so  much  dis- 
turbance at  Antioch — and  these,  as  the  others  had  done,  per- 
sisted that  it  was  indeed  needful  to  circumcise  the  converts, 
and  to  command  them  to  keep  the  whole  law  of  Moses. 

This  was  the  very  matter  in  dispute  ;  and  the  delegates 
were  thus  reminded  that  they  had  come  to  Jerusalem  to  have 
it  decided.  Therefore  "  the  apostles  and  elders  came  together 
to  consider  of  this  matter."  This  assembly  is  usually  described 
in  ecclesiastical  history  as  the  First  "Council"  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  held  at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  52  a.d. 

After  some  time  had  been  passed  in  inquiry  and  debate, 
Peter  arose  to  address  the  assembly.  He  spoke  entirely  in 
accordance  with  the  views  of  Paul ;  and  was  heard  with  pro- 
found attention,  as  he  appealed  to  the  results  of  his  own  ex- 
perience in  the  matter  of  Cornelius.  Hence  he  solemnly  re- 
cognized the  purifying  of  the  heathen  by  faith,  confirmed  by 
the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  he  declared  that  he 
regarded  it  as  a  doubting  of  God's  acts,  and  indeed  a  tempt- 
ing of  God,  to  impose  upon  them,  as  a  condition  of  salvation, 
the  yoke  of  the  Mosaic  law.  As  no  one  attempted  to  reply 
to  the  weighty  words  of  Peter,  Barnabas  and  Paul,  in  their 
turn,  arose,  and  reported  the  results  of  their  own  important 
experience  to  the  same  effect,  appealing  with  great  force  to  the 
miracles  with  which  God  had  been  pleased  to  aid  and  sanc- 
tion their  labors.  James  then  arose  ;  and  the  members  of  the 
assembly  most  opposed  to  concession,  probably  hung  with 
special  interest  upon  his  words,  in  the  expectation  that,  from 
his  position  and  manner  of  life,  his  views  would  be  in  accord- 


286  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

ance  with  their  own.  But  it  was  far  otherwise.  He  was  not 
disposed  to  disregard  the  evidence  which  had  been  produced. 
He  acknowledged  that  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  into  the 
blessings  and  honors  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  purposes  of  God  as  declared  by  the  prophets  ; 
and  as  it  behoved  them  to  be  careful  how  they  offered  any  ob- 
struction to  a  great  work  which  God  had  so  visibly  favored, 
it  did  not  seem  to  him  expedient  that  they  should  impose 
upon  "  those  who  among  the  Gentiles  had  turned  to  God,"  the 
obligations  of  the  Mosaic  covenant.  It  would,  in  his  judg- 
ment, suffice  to  enjoin  upon  them  nothing  further  than  to 
abstain  from  "  pollutions  of  idols,  and  from  fornication,  and 
from  things  strangled,  and  from  blood."  All  these  were  prac- 
tices abominable  to  the  Jews,  and  would  oppose  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  any  social  approximation  between  the 
Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians.  We  are  not  here  to  look  for 
any  summary  of  Christian  duty  and  obligation.  We  hear  not 
of  the  worship  of  one  God  in  Christ ;  of  self-denial,  of  cruci- 
fying the  flesh  with  the  affections  and  lusts  ;  but  simply  such 
practices,  besides  known  sins,  are  specified  as  would  prevent 
the  Jews  from  coalescing  with  the  uncircumcised  Gentiles  so 
as  to  form  one  church  with  them.  Thus,  the  proposals  of  one 
so  highly  respected  by  the  Jews  as  James  was,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  that  higher  Spirit  by  which  the  apostolic  counsels 
were,  according  to  their  Lord's  promise,  animated,  were  at 
once  accepted  by  the  assembly,  and  embodied  in  a  decree 
drawn  up  in  its  name,  and  addressed  to  "  the  brethren  which 
are  of  the  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia."  This 
remarkable  and  interesting  document  seems  to  bear  the  mark 
of  James'  own  hand  in  the  form  of  salutation,  "  greeting" 
(xalgeiv),  which  occurs  nowhere  else  but  here,  and  in  the  salu- 
tation of  his  own  epistle. — James  i.  1. 

Another  important  matter  was  also  brought  to  a  decision. 
In  order  that  the  converted  heathen  might  have  a  practical 
proof  of  their  right  to  have  their  sanctification  recognized 
without  comiDg  under  the  ceremonial  observances,  Paul  had 
taken  with  him  to  Jerusalem  a  Gentile  convert  named   Titus 


THE    DECREE.  28? 

who  had  never  been  circumcised.  The  step  was  crowned  with 
success  ;  the  Judaizing  teachers  at  Jerusalem,  by  strongly  in- 
sisting that  Titus  ought  to  be  circumcised,  brought  the  matter 
under  the  consideration  of  the  apostles,  and  compelled  them  to 
some  distinct  decision  on  the  matter.  They  declined  to  sanc- 
tion such  an  imposition,  and,  evidently  after  due  deliberation, 
freed  Titus  from  all  obligation  to  be  circumcised. 


FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE  DECREE. 1  COR.  viii.  1-13  ;  x.  14-33  ;  2  COR.  VI.  14-18. 

We  have  already  indicated  the  object  of  the  apostolic  de- 
cree, and  we  may  now  give  attention  to  its  details. 

In  this  decree  or  epistle,  the  "  pollutions  of  idols,"  are  more 
explicitly  indicated  as  "  meat  offered  to  idols."  This  is  ex- 
plained by  the  fact,  that  the  Gentiles,  after  the  sacrifices  were 
concluded,  and  a  portion  of  the  consecrated  victim  had  been 
assigned  to  the  priest,  used  to  hold  a  sacrificial  feast  in  honor 
of  the  god,  either  in  the  temple  or  at  private  houses,  and  then 
ate  the  residue  of  the  flesh.  Some,  either  from  avarice  or 
poverty,  salted  or  laid  up  the  remnant  for  future  use,  and  some 
even  gave  it  to  the  butchers  to  sell  for  them  in  the  shambles. 

This  flesh,  as  having  been  offered  to  idols,  was  in  every  form 
most  abhorrent  to  the  Jews ;  and  they  considered  not  only 
those  who  were  present  at  such  feasts,  but  those  who  ate  of 
the  flesh  which  had  been  offered  up,  even  though  bought  in 
the  market,  as  infected  by  the  idolatrous  contagion.  We  thus 
see  the  foundation  of  the  prohibition  advised  by  James,  and 
adopted  by  the  council.  Indeed,  apart  from  any  regard  to  the 
scruples  of  the  Jews,  the  reasons  why  Christians  should  be 
forbidden  to  take  any  part  in  the  heathen  sacrificial  feasts  were 
very  obvious,  seeing  that  a  sacrifice  was  not  merely  a  cere- 
mony, but  a  federal  rite,  by  which  the  sacrifice,  and  the  being 
to  whom  it  was  offered,  are  (so  to  speak)  closely  united. 


"288  FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK THURSDAY. 

The  extent  in  which  this  prohibition  was  to  be  understood, 
seems  to  have  been  left  open  to  some  question.  Understood 
in  the  strictest  sense,  it  would  have  imposed  upon  every  one 
the  difficult  task  of  ascertaining  what  meat  offered  for  sale  in 
the  open  market  had,  and  what  had  not  been  sacrificed  to 
idols ;  for  uncertainty  on  this  point  would  have  been  distress- 
ing to  many  tender  consciences.  Indeed,  we  know  that  this 
very  question  was  brought  under  the  consideration  of  St.  Paul, 
who  was  always  careful  to  explain  that  religion  consisted  not 
in  meats  or  drinks,  and  who  above  all  things  feared  lest  any- 
thing besides  the  finished  work  of  Christ  should  be  taken  as 
a  ground  of  justification  before  God.  He,  therefore,  taught 
that  seeing  an  idol  was  a  mere  nonentity, — "  nothing  in  the 
world," — the  meat  or  drink  had  not  contracted  any  property 
from  its  consecration  to  that  which  had  no  existence,  and 
that,  therefore,  considered  abstractly,  no  one  was  the  worse  for 
partaking  of  it,  or  the  better  for  abstaining.  He,  therefore, 
allowed  the  Corinthians,  to  whom  his  advice  was  directed,  to 
eat  freely  whatever  was  sold  in  the  shambles,  without  being 
careful  to  ascertain  whether  it  had  been  offered  to  idols  or 
not.  In  case,  however,  a  "  weak  brother"  should  call  their 
attention  to  the  circumstance  that  it  had  been  so  offered,  then 
it  became  their  duty,  for  his  sake,  to  abstain  from  it ;  for 
whatever  might  be  the  question  as  to  the  meat  itself,  there 
could  be  no  question  that  they  should  avoid  that  which  might 
be  a  stumbling-block  to  "  them  that  are  weak  ;"  or  by  which 
the  conscience  of  the  weak  brother  might,  on  the  one  hand, 
be  wounded,  or,  on  the  other,  emboldened  to  his  peril. 
"  Wherefore,  if  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no 
flesh  while  the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  of- 
fend." This,  it  will  be  seen,  is  the  very  principle  on  which 
the  prohibition  was  originally  issued, — the  avoidance  of 
grounds  of  offence  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians. 
The  Corinthians  seem,  however,  to  have  misapprehended  and 
abused  the  liberty  thus  given.  Having  been  told  that  an 
idol  was  nothing  at  all,  and  that  the  eating  of  meat  offered 
to  an  idol  was,  therefore,  in  itself  a  matter  of  indifference, 


THE    DECREE.  289 

they  chose  to  infer  that  all  the  circumstances  which  might  be 
connected  with  such  eating  were  also  matter  of  indifference, 
and  that  they  were  consequently  free  to  visit  the  heathen  tem- 
ples, which  were  often  scenes  of  riot  and  debauchery,  and 
to  partake  of  the  offerings  amid  the  praises  which  were  sung 
to  the  heathen  god.  They  knew  that  the  idol  was  nothing, 
and  that  the  praises  were  nothing,  but  the  victuals  were  good 
things.  But  this  was  an  actual  participation  in  the  idolatry 
going  on  ;  and  such  persons  were  of  course  regarded  by  the 
heathen  as  being  themselves  idolaters.  Paul  was,  therefore, 
very  careful  to  caution  the  Corinthians  against  idolatry,  and 
to  warn  them  that  they  could  not  be  "  partakers  of  the  Lord's 
table  and  the  table  of  devils."  Whether  an  act  is  to  be 
taken  as  religious  or  not,  depends  in  some  measure  on  the 
circumstances  of  its  performance.  If  one  eats  a  wafer  in  his 
own  room,  it  signifies  nothing ;  but  if  he  eats  it  before  a 
Romish  altar,  he  thereby  declares  himself  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

The  prohibition  of  blood  in  general,  and  of  the  Jewish  no- 
tions relating  to  it  in  particular,  we  have  already  had  sufficient 
occasion  to  explain  and  illustrate.  The  reasons  for  the  orig- 
inal prohibition  of  the  use  of  blood  were,  because  that  in  the 
blood  lay  the  "  life"  of  the  animal ;  and  that  being,  as  such, 
consecrated  to  God  on  the  altar,  and  typical  of  the  most 
precious  blood  of  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  it  was  to  be  kept  apart  from  mean  and  common  uses. 
The  abstinence,  also,  served  to  keep  up  a  distinction  between 
the  Jews  and  Gentiles ;  for  the  latter  used  the  blood  of  ani- 
mals freely.  They  ate  it  with  the  flesh,  or  carefully  drew  it 
from  the  part  where  the  incision  was  made,  to  convert  it  into 
nourishment,  either  by  mingling  it  with  flour  and  oatmeal, 
and  so  drinking  it  in  a  liquid  state,  or  by  mixing  and  dress- 
ing it  with  other  food,  as  is  done  by  us  with  black  puddings, 
— which,  indeed,  were  in  use  among  the  ancients.  Virtually 
the  old  prohibition  had  expired  ;  for  blood  had  ceased  to  be 
typically  sacred,  seeing  that  sacrificial  worship  was  abolished, 
and  Christ  had  died.     Yet  it  was  for  the  time  revived  by  this 

VOL.    IV.  13 


290  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

decree ;  for  so  long  as  the  Jewish  Christians  retained  their 
notions  as  to  their  continued  liability  to  the  ritual  law,  so 
long  would  the  use  of  blood  by  the  Gentile  Christians  pre- 
vent the  union  of  the  two,  and,  indeed,  render  it  impossible 
that  they  should  eat  together.  The  restriction,  doubtless, 
ceased  with  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  there  is  consequently 
no  transgression  in  our  own  use  of  blood,  whether  in  black 
puddings,  or  in  underdone  beef-steaks  and  legs  of  mutton. 
Indeed,  we  lately  read  in  one  of  the  morning  papers,  a  letter 
from  a  physician,  recommending  the  use  of  the  blood  of  animals, 
in  various  preparations,  as  cheap  and  highly  nutritive  food,  suit- 
able for  a  time  like  this,*  when  bread  and  meat  are  very  dear.f 

The  prohibition  of  "  things  strangled"  grows  out  of  the  for- 
mer. For  animals  caught  in  traps,  or  dying  of  any  form  of 
suffocation,  have  the  blood  retained  in  the  carcass,  and  were, 
therefore,  unfit  for  food  under  the  previous  rule,  which  allowed 
no  meat  to  be  eaten  but  such  as  had  been  so  slaughtered  as 
completely  to  discharge  the  blood.  So  if  an  animal  had  been 
taken  in  hunting,  it  became  unfit  for  food,  unless  the  hunter 
could  reach  it  before  it  died,  so  as  to  slaughter  it  in  the  proper 
manner.  The  ancient  Gentiles  had,  however,  no  objection  to 
eat  the  flesh  of  animals  slain  without  effusion  of  blood ;  they 
even  preferred  strangulation  in  some  cases,  under  the  notion 
that  it  made  the  flesh  more  tender ;  and  birds,  hares,  rabbits, 
and  other  game,  usually  died  of  suffocation  ;  and  it  has  been 
shown  that  it  was  the  usual  practice  of  some  nations  not  to 
butcher  but  strangle  the  victims. 

The  last  of  the  interdicts,  the  avoidance  of  fornication,  has 
perplexed  many,  as  mentioning  a  known  sin  among  ceremo- 
nial observances,  meant  to  be  only  temporary,  and,  perhaps, 
local.     But  fornication  was  scarcely  regarded  as  a  sin  by  the 

*  Autumn  of  1853. 

f  "  Blood  is  a  substance  on  which  it  is  probable  the  digestive  or- 
gans have  but  little  assimilative  power  to  exert  in  order  to  render 
it  fit  for  the  purposes  of  nutrition.  Still,  blood  alone,  like  all  other 
very  concentrated  nutrient  matters,  is  very  unwholesome." — Davis' 
Manual  of  Hygiene. 


THE    VISIT   TO    JERUSALEM.  291 

heathen.  It  was  not  contrary  to  any  law  they  had,  and  was 
deemed  a  matter  of  indifference,  and  in  some  cases  laudable. 
Several  of  their  gods  were  worshipped  with  impure  rites ;  and 
the  festivals  in  their  temples  were  celebrated  with  the  most 
shameful  extravagance  of  sensuality.  The  details  are  too 
shocking  to  be  produced  by  a  Christian  writer ;  but  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  indicate  the  fact  of  this  connection  between  idolatry 
and  impurity,  in  order  to  explain  the  connection  of  ideas 
which  caused  the  prohibition  of  fornication  to  be  placed  be- 
side the  interdiction  of  attendance  at  the  temple  festivals  of 
the  idolaters.  This  connection  was  of  old  date  in  the  history 
of  idolatry ;  and  had  memorably  been  impressed  upon  the 
Jews  by  one  of  the  most  disastrous  circumstances  in  their  own 
history  ;  for  it  was  in  order  to  allure  them  to  fornication  that 
the  Midianites  invited  them  to  their  sacrificial  feasts  ;  and  the 
success  of  this  diabolical  conspiracy  is  written  in  blood  in  the 
annals  of  Israel.* 

Since,  therefore,  fornication  was  so  usual  among  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  since  it  was  accounted  lawful,  and  was  materially  mixed 
up  with  their  religion,  and  sanctioned  by  the  example  of  the 
gods  they  worshipped — seeing  that  the  best  of  their  gods 
would  have  been  on  earth  the  worst  of  men  ;  and  since  such 
opinions  and  practices  materially  increased  the  abomination 
and  hatred  with  which  the  Gentiles  were  regarded  by  the 
Jews,  and  was  a  very  great  impediment  of  union  with  them, 
— it  was  altogether  necessary,  on  this  peculiar  and  solemn 
occasion,  to  enjoin  the  observance  of  chastity  upon  the  Gen- 
tile converts. 


FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE   VISIT   TO    JERUSALEM. GALATIANS    II.    1-10. 

St.  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  having  related  his 
first  visit  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion,  and  his  subsequent 

*  Num.  xxv. ;  and  Morning  Series,  Twentieth  week,  Monday, 


202  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

labors  in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Then  fourteen 
years  after,  I  went  up  again  to  Jerusalem,  with  Barnabas,  and 
took  Titus  with  me  also." 

It  has  been  much  questioned  to  which  of  the  visits  to  Je- 
rusalem, recorded  in  the  Acts,  this  statement  may  be  referred. 
Some  say  that  it  was  the  visit  mentioned  in  Acts  xi.  29,  30, 
when  Paul  and  Barnabas  took  the  alms  of  the  church  at 
Antioch  to  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  There  is  this  in  favor 
of  that  conclusion — that  it  is  certainly  the  second  recorded 
visit  after  the  one  that  followed  his  conversion,  and  that  he 
was  then  also  accompanied  by  Barnabas.  This  last  circum- 
stance tells  equally  in  favor  of  the  visit  which  has  just  passed 
under  our  notice.  The  circumstances  and  objects  of  the  for- 
mer visit  are  altogether  different  from  those  which  Paul  as- 
cribes to  the  one  he  made  "  fourteen  years  after  ;"  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  make  out  that  this  visit  could  have  been  so 
late  as  "  fourteen  years  after"  either  the  first  visit,  or  the  con- 
version of  the  apostle,  from  which  date  some  suppose  the 
years  to  be  computed.  On  the  other  hand,  neither  does  the 
business  of  this  visit,  as  described  by  Paul  himself,  appear  to 
be  identical  with  that  recorded  in  Acts  xv.,  and  there  are  other 
difficulties,  presently  to  be  stated,  which  have  seemed  to  many 
so  insurmountable,  that  they  have  felt  themselves  driven  to 
the  expedient  of  supposing  that  the  apostle's  statement  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Galatians,  refers  to  some  intermediate  visit  not 
recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  In  itself  there  is  no  ob- 
jection to  this  supposition.  We  know  that  all  the  circum- 
stances of  Paul's  evangelical  history  are  not  reported  in  the 
Acts ;  and  the  distance  between  Antioch  and  Jerusalem  was 
not  so  great,  nor  the  intercourse  between  them  so  unfrequent 
or  difficult,  as  to  render  it  unlikely  that  there  should  have 
been,  in  the  long  interval,  one  or  more  visits  than  those  re- 
corded. We  are,  however,  satisfied  in  our  own  minds,  that 
the  visit  to  which  Paul  now  refers,  is  that  which  was  taken 
respecting  the  affairs  of  the  Gentile  converts,  and  which  re- 
sulted in  the  decree  we  have  examined. 

Before  noticing  the  grounds  upon  which  that  conviction  is 


THE    VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  293 

founded,  and  endeavoring  to  remove  the  obstacles  that  oppose 
it,  it  may  be  stated,  that  the  chronological  intervention  of  the 
alms-bearing  visit  offers  no  real  impediment ;  it  is  passed 
over  simply  because  nothing  on  that  occasion  transpired  re- 
lating to  the  subject  in  hand.  Paul  says,  that  on  his  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  three  years  after  his  conversion,  nothing  occurred 
to  invalidate  his  claims  to  the  office  of  an  apostle  ;  and  then 
he  adds,  that  when  he  was  again  at  Jerusalem,  fourteen  years 
after,  the  apostles,  with  whom  he  had  private  and  full  com- 
munications on  the  subject,  distinctly  recognized  his  apostolic 
claims.  He  had  no  occasion  to  mention  the  intermediate 
visit,  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  in  hand  ;  nor 
indeed  had  he  occasion  to  state  any  of  the  other  business  of 
this  visit,  however  important  (as  recorded  by  Luke),  but  that 
which  bore  upon  the  question  in  discussion  with  the  Galatians, 
and  which  as  having  been  a  comparatively  private  matter  (as 
Paul  himself  expressly  states)  is  not  noticed  by  Luke. 

The  difficulties  which  have  been  urged  against  this  identi- 
fication of  the  third  visit  of  the  Acts,  with  the  second  of  the 
Galatians,  are  these  principally  : — 

That  Luke  says  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  sent  by  the  church 
at  Antioch,  after  much  disputation,  whereas  Paul  states  that 
he  went  up  by  revelation.  But  these  particulars  are  surely 
compatible.  The  revelation  may  either  have  led  to  this  de- 
termination of  the  church  ;  or  may  have  been  needed  to 
reconcile  Paul  to  a  step  to  which  he  may  have  been  possibly 
averse. 

That  after  the  part  which  Peter  took  in  the  council  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  his  concurrence  in  the  resulting  decree — he  could 
never  have  acted  in  that  very  matter  as  he  afterwards  did  at 
Antioch,  and  that,  consequently,  Paul's  own  recital  must 
apply  to  a  visit  anterior  to  that  which  Luke  records.  This  we 
may  pass  by  now,  and  will  look  into  it  when  we  come  to  con- 
sider that  point  historically. 

The  remaining  objections  make  a  connected  group,  and 
may  be  disposed  of  presently  in  one  statement.  These  are — 
How  comes  it  that  Paul  does  not,  in  the  epistle  in  which  this 


294  FORTT-EIGHTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

statement  occurs  (nor  indeed  anywhere  else),  make  any  men- 
tion of  the  important  decree  of  which  he  had  been  the  bearer 
to  the  churches,  notwithstanding  that  it  is  so  evidently  appli- 
cable to  the  case,  in  his  rebuke  to  the  Galatians  for  their  Ju- 
daizing  errors  ?  How  comes  it  that,  having  to  answer  the 
question,  as  to  meats  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  in  his  first 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  he  makes  no  mention  of  the  decis- 
ion already  given  ?  And,  how  comes  it  that  his  report  of  the 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  seems  so 
different  from  that  of  the  narrative  in  the  Acts  ? 

Notwithstanding  this,  we  must  assume  the  two  journeys 
were  identical ;  for,  in  the  face  of  these  difficulties,  there  are 
considerations  which  preclude  the  possibility  of  their  being 
different.  The  visit  described  by  Paul  could  not  have  been 
prior  to  the  one  recorded  by  Luke ;  because  acts  proving  the 
apostleship  of  Paul  must  already  have  been  performed  ;  and 
the  journey  recorded  in  Acts  xi.  29,  30,  must  have  been  then 
over.  Neither  could  it  have  been  a  subsequent  one  ;  because, 
immediately  after  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  Paul  and  Barnabas 
disagree,  whereas  here  we  find  them  still  united.  Further- 
more, the  two  accounts  correspond  in  all  important  points, — 
the  same  controversy,  the  same  immediate  occasion  from  the 
efforts  of  the  Judaists,  Peter  and  James  the  same  chief  actors, 
and  the  same  testimony  by  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  their  suc- 
cess among  the  heathen.  But  while  the  two  statements  refer 
to  the  same  journey,  they  clearly  refer  to  separate  and  inde- 
pendent deliberations  and  results  of  that  journey.  At  this  we 
have  already  hinted,  and  its  further  development  seems  to  offer 
a  fair  solution  to  every  difficulty  the  subject  involves.  The 
narrative  in  the  Acts  treats  of  the  public  object  of  the  jour- 
ney, and  the  public  discussion  thereon,  that  is,  on  the  rights 
and  duties  of  the  Gentile  Christians.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
conference  reported  to  the  Galatians  had  reference  solely  to 
Paul's  apostleship  ;  and  there  is  no  allusion  to  the  demands 
made  on  the  Gentile  converts.  The  full  recognition  of  his 
apostleship,  and  the  agreement  as  to  the  division  of  labor, 
are  there  given  as  the  results  of  the  conference  at  Jerusalem. 


THE    VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  295 

These  two  things  are  very  different.  But  Paul  himself  uses 
a  phrase  which  renders  clear  the  relation  between  the  two 
transactions  :  The  understanding  come  to  respecting  his  apos- 
tolic office  occurred  "  in  private"  after,  or  it  may  be  before, 
the  settlement  of  the  more  public  matter  regarding  the  Gen- 
tile Christians.  And  why  was  this  ?  The  questions  were  akin 
to  each  other,  and  yet  they  were  different.  It  was  much  more 
difficult  to  recognize  Paul's  apostleship  than  the  rights  of  the 
Gentile  Christians  ;  and  the  two  questions  could  well  be  kept 
apart.  Both  Paul  and  Peter  were  probably  desirous  to  spare 
the  faithful  at  large  the  trial  of  a  question  for  which  they  were 
not  pfepared,  and  of  which  they  were  not  the  immediate 
judges.  The  matter  was,  therefore,  brought  before  those  only 
who,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  were  called  upon  to  express  an 
opinion  on  the  point,  whether  Paul  was,  in  the  fullest  sense 
of  the  term,  an  apostle  or  not,  and  to  take  a  definite  position 
towards  him.  It  appears  probable,  as  a  recent  writer*  sup- 
poses, "  that  no  one  in  the  Jerusalem  church  had  as  yet  had 
a  correct  view  of  the  new  claim  to  apostleship.  James,  Peter, 
and  John  alone,  were  enabled,  by  an  admirable  self-denial, 
and  by  illumination  from  above,  to  recognize  the  wonderful 
fact  that,  without  their  intervention,  an  apostle  in  the  fullest 
sense  had  appeared,  invested  with  the  same  mission  and  au- 
thority from  the  risen  Lord,  for  the  heathen,  as  Peter  had 
received  from  Him  while  on  earth  for  the  Jews  ;f  and  respon- 
sible, like  Peter,  to  Christ  alone." 

This  being  explained,  we  can  the  better  understand  how 
Paul  came  to  pass  over  the  Jerusalem  decree  in  his  epistles, 
even  when  engaged  upon  matters  which  might  seem  to  sug- 
gest a  reference  to  its  decisions.  He  was  as  independent  in 
his  guidance  of  the  churches  as  Peter  was  in  his  ;  and  his  in- 

*  Dr.  Henry  "W.  J.  Thiersch,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol. 
i.,  ch.  ii.  of  the  English  translation  by  T.  Carlyle,  Esq.,  of  the  Scottish 
Bar :  London,  1852,  a  work  which,  although  we  dissent  in  some  points 
from  the  conclusions  it  exhibits,  contains  many  valuable  euggestions ; 
and  we  are  essentially  indebted  to  it  in  this  evening's  Reading. 

f  Gal.  ii.  7,  8. 


296  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

dependence  had  been  acknowledged  by  the  apostles  them- 
selves. He  was  trammelled  by  no  human  authority  and  was 
responsible  to  none.  This  he  asserted  in  Galatia  and  at  Cor- 
inth. When  his  epistles  to  these  churches  were  written,  the 
time  had  come  for  him  to  vindicate  his  apostleship  on  every 
hand.  He  had  no  need,  in  correcting  errors,  to  cite  the  de- 
crees of  others.  His  word,  as  an  apostle  of  Christ  to  the 
heathen,  was  decree  sufficient  for  them.  At  the  very  time 
when  his  authority  was  questioned  by  the  church  which  he 
had  himself  planted,  it  would  have  been  a  fatal  concession  had 
he  cited  to  them  another  power  than  his  own  as  their  guide. 

The  unequivocal  acknowledgment  which  Paul  received  from 
Peter  and  others  of  his  call  and  authority  as  an  apostle,  ex- 
tended to  a  distinct  recognition  of  his  peculiar  qualifications 
and  commission  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  They 
perceived  distinctly  from  his  statement  of  "  the  Gospel  which 
he  preached  among  the  Gentiles,"  that  "  the  Gospel  of  the  un 
circumcision"  had  been  as  fully  committed  to  him  as  "  the 
Gospel  of  the  circumcision"  had  been  assigned  to  Peter ; 
that  is,  as  we  think  with  Dr.  Brown,*  "  they  distinctly  saw 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  taught  him  to  preach  the  Gospel,  in 
a  way  peculiarly  calculated  for  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles, 
just  as  He  had  taught  Peter  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  a  way 
peculiarly  fitted  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews."  And  per- 
ceiving this,  "  they  readily  acknowledged  Paul  and  Barnabas 
as  brethren  ;  they  gave  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  as 
a  token  of  agreement  in  sentiment,  an  acknowledgment  of 
their  possessing  the  same  authority  as  themselves,  and  as  a 
pledge  that  they  would  mutually  assist  each  other  in  the  work 
in  which  they  were  engaged  ;  and  at  the  same  time  it  was 
agreed  that  while  James,  Peter,  and  John  continued  to  labor 
chiefly  among  the  Jews,  Paul  and  Barnabas  should  continue 
to  labor  chiefly  among  the  Gentiles.  Not  that  either  party 
was  scrupulously  to  confine  their  labors  within  those  bounds, 
but  that,  generally  speaking,  they  should  respectively  occupy 

*  In  his  Expository  Discourses  on  Galatians,  where  this  matter  is 
fully  explained.     Pp.  76-89. 


PETEk'o    FAULT.  297 

those  fields  of  labor  for  which  the  Holy  Spirit  had  particu- 
larly qualified  them."  This  was  not,  however,  an  appointment 
laid  upon  Paul  by  his  superiors.  It  was  a  mutual  agreement 
of  equals,  arising  out  of  their  clearly  perceiving  the  will  of 
their  common  Master.  Accordingly,  they  gave  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas no  instructions.  They  knew  that  they  needed  none. 
The  only  subject  on  which  they  gave  anything  like  advice, 
was  one  of  a  practical,  not  of  a  doctrinal  kind  ;  and  even 
then  it  was  a  friendly  hint,  not  an  official  command  :  "  Only 
they  would  that  we  should  remember  the  poor  :"  "  the  same 
which,"  says  the  apostle,  "  I  also  was  forward  to  do." 


FORTY-EIGHTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

peter's  fault. — gal.  ii.  11-13. 

On  the  return  to  Antioch,  one  of  the  party  was  Mark,  whom 
Barnabas  had  of  course  found  at  Jerusalem,  and  having  prob- 
ably brought  him  to  a  sense  of  his  former  misconduct,  was 
induced  to  reinstate  him  in  his  confidence,  and  to  take  him 
back  with  him  to  Antioch.  There  were  also  two  other  per- 
sons, leading  men  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  whose  high 
character  among  the  Jewish  Christians  would,  it  was  thought, 
add  weight  to  a  decision  so  favorable  to  the  views  of  Paul 
and  Barnabas.  One  of  them  was  "  Judas  surnamed  Barsa- 
bas,"  that  is,  the  son  of  Sabas.  As  the  name  of  the  person 
who  was  nominated  to  fill  the  vacant  apostleship  was  "  Joseph 
called  Barsabas,"*  some  have  imagined  that  this  was  the  same 
person.  But  there  is  no  analogy  between  the  names  of  Jo- 
seph and  Judas  ;  and  the  identity  of  the  patronymic  might 
merely  suggest  that  Judas  was  a  brother  of  Joseph — both, 
that  is,  sons  of  Sabas.  The  other  was  Silas,  whom  we  shall 
subsequently  meet  with  as  the  travelling  companion  of  Paul, 
and  who  is  believed  to  be  the  same  person  who  is  often  men- 
•  Acts  i.  23. 
13* 


298  FORTY-EIGHTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

tioned  by  him  in  his  epistles,  and  onee  by  Peter,  under  the 
name  of  "  Silvanus."*  They  are  both  indicated  as  "  prophets,"! 
the  application  of  which  term  has  been  already  explained. 

On  arriving  at  Antioch,  a  meeting  of  the  church  was  con- 
vened, and  the  epistolary  decree  delivered.  It  was  received  in 
a  most  satisfactory  manner.  The  Gentile  Christians  heartily 
rejoiced  at  having  this  vexed  question  settled  on  terms  so 
slightly  burdensome  to  them,  and  the  Jewish  Christians  seem 
to  have  at  least  acquiesced  in  it  as  an  authoritative  decision 
of  the  matter.  Judas  and  Silas  ably  supported  these  decis- 
ions by  their  discourses  and  influence,  and  when  the  whole 
business  seemed  happily  concluded,  Judas  went  home  to  Je- 
rusalem ;  but  he  was  unaccompanied  by  Silas,  who  thought 
it  proper  to  remain  at  Antioch.  Paul  and  Barnabas  also  con- 
tinued there,  apparently  for  a  good  while,  "  teaching  and 
preaching  the  word  of  the  Lord"  with  great  success. 

These  happy  days  could  not,  however,  always  last,  and  we 
presently  come  to  sad  scenes  between  Paul  and  Peter,  and — 
oh,  grief! — between  Paul  and  Barnabas. 

It  is  to  this  period  that  we,  with  the  best  authorities,  ascribe 
that  visit  of  Peter  to  the  metropolis  of  Gentile  Christianity, 
which  is  recorded  in  Paul's  interesting  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians.  He  came,  as  far  as  appears,  without  any  intention  of 
interfering  with  Paul  in  his  work  as  the  apostle  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  with  a  purpose  to  carry  out  in  practice  the  decree  to 
which  he  had  been  an  acting  party.  On  his  arrival,  therefore, 
he  ate  freely  with  the  Gentiles  in  their  social  entertainments, 
as  well  as  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  in  the  Agapae  or  love 
feasts.  But  soon  there  came  up  some  members  of  the  Jeru- 
salem church  to  Antioch,  who,  influenced  by  the  old  leaven 
of  Jewish  exclusiveness,  evinced  no  little  interest  in  observing 
how  the  apostle  of  the  circumcision  would  deport  himself  in 
such  new  company ;  and  holding  themselves  out  too  ready 
to  take  offence  at  his  conduct,  and  to  impart  their  own  im- 
pressions to  the  strict  Judaists  at  home.     In  spite  of  the  decree 

*  2  Cor.  i.  19;  1  Thess.  i.  1  ;  2  Thess.  i.  1 ;  1  Peter  v.  12. 
f  Acta  xv.  82. 


PETER'S    FAULT.  299 

of  the  council,  these  seem  to  have  shrunk  from  full  commu- 
nion with  the  heathens.  And,  as  a  writer*  lately  cited  ob- 
serves, "  It  is  not  so  easy  to  yield  to  a  consequence  as  to  see 
it."  Indeed,  as  the  same  author  truly  remarks,  "  We  need 
only  look  to  the  subsequent  divisions  of  the  church  (in  which 
the  adherents  of  one  confession,  while  they  dare  not  deny  sal- 
vation to  those  of  another,  or  insist  on  their  coming  over, 
still  refrain  conscientiously  from  communion  with  them)  in 
order  to  find  a  repetition  of  the  same  state  of  feeling  and 
conduct."  Peter  separated  himself  from  the  society  of  the 
Gentiles,  and  his  example  was  followed  by  all  the  members  of 
Jewish  descent,  even  by  Barnabas  himself.  They  seem  then 
to  have  even  celebrated  their  communion  and  their  Agapa* 
separately  ;  and  Paul  was  the  only  Israelite  who  remained  in 
free  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles.  Some  have  questioned 
that  the  division  had  the  extent  and  significance  thus  assigned 
to  it.  But  it  is  forgotten  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was  at  first 
(as  repeatedly  intimated  in  the  epistles,  and  as  is  known  from 
early  Christian  writers)  partaken,  as  in  its  original  institution, 
in  connection  with  a  social  meal,  of  ordinary  materials,  but 
called  from  the  occasion  an  agape,  usually  rendered  love 
feast ;  and  this  being  expressly  a  feast  of  brotherhood,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  the  Jews  could  object  to  take  part  in  the 
domestic  meals  of  the  Gentiles,  without  still  more  pointedly 
objecting  to  this  more  public  fraternization  with  the  Gentile 
converts,  and  thus  recognizing  them  as  sanctified. 

It  may  well  be  asked — Is  it  possible  that  Peter,  who  had 
been  the  instrument  of  opening  the  door  of  hope  to  the  Gen- 
tiles— Peter,  who  had  spoken  so  generously  and  wisely  in  the 
council  at  Jerusalem,  should  thus  fall  back  upon  Jewish  no- 
tions ?  This  has  seemed  so  strange  to  many  as  to  lead  them 
to  assign  this  visit  to  a  date  earlier  than  that  of  the  Jerusalem 
decree.  But  the  circumstances  cannot  be  easily  adjusted  to 
this  hypothesis  ;  and  even  if  it  were  admitted,  the  case  of  Cor- 
nelius would  still  remain  a  stumbling-block  for  those  who 
would  uphold  the  consistency  of  this  apostle. 

*  Thiersch,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  p.  125. 


300  FORTY-EIGHTH   WEEK — SATURDAY. 

How  could  Peter  reconcile  his  present  scruples  with  his  ex- 
perience in  that  case  ?  Closely  considered,  it  will  be  seen, 
that  this  case  left  many  questions  unsettled.  Where  was  yet 
the  proof  that  a  mere  heathen  might  be  baptized,  without 
having-  beforehand. visibly  received  the  Spirit?  What  war- 
rant did  it  afford  to  go  out  and  preach  to  those  yet  enslaved 
by  idolatry  ?  Where  was  the  authority  for  Peter  to  turn  his 
back  on  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  especially  when  another  had 
been  raised  up  as  apostle  to  the  heathen  ?  Besides,  it  is  ever 
to  be  remembered,  that  not  a  word  had  been  yet,  nor  was 
until  many  years  after,  spoken,  as  to  the  obligation  of  the  Jews 
themselves  to  relinquish  their  ceremonial  law — which  all  the 
Jewish  disciples,  even  Paul  himself,  continued  to  observe ;  and 
Peter  seems  to  have  felt  that  at  the  moment  when  the  churches 
should  relinquish  the  Mosaic  ritual,  and  he  should  act  as 
Paul  had  clone,  all  hope  of  operating  upon  the  Jews  as  a  body, 
was  at  an  end.  From  all  these  reasons,  it  will  appear,  that 
the  mere  baptism  of  Cornelius,  made  it  no  self-evident  matter 
that  Peter,  and  the  brethren  with  him,  were  no  longer  called 
upon  to  pay  any  regard  to  the  Jews,  and  to  the  doubts  of 
Jewish  Christians. 

To  reconcile  his  conduct  at  Antioch,  with  the  part  he  took 
in  the  Jerusalem  council,  is  at  the  first  view  more  difficult. 
Yet  if  we  look  narrowly  into  the  matter,  the  error  of  Peter 
will  appear  but  too  natural,  great  as  was  the  evil,  and  dan- 
gerous as  the  consequences  might  have  been.  He  shrunk  at 
the  thought  of  the  stir,  and  perhaps  the  division,  his  conduct 
might  occasion  at  Jerusalem.  He  feared  the  weakening  of 
his  own  authority  in  the  church,  and  losing  his  hold  of  the 
Jews.  It  may  be  also  that,  as  Dr.  Brown  suggests,  his  fear 
of  "  these  men"  from  Jerusalem,  was  an  apprehension  of  their 
being  so  disgusted  at  seeing  the  unreserved  intercourse  of 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  a  thing  so  abhorrent  to  their  prejudices, 
as  to  be  tempted  to  renounce  Christianity,  and  revert  to  Ju- 
daism.* 

He  might,  moreover,  doubt  if  he  had  done  well  in  coming 
*  Expository  Discourses  on  Galatians,  p.  85. 


PETER'S    FAULT.  301 

into  a  situation  where  he  must  take  either  the  one  side  or 
the  other.  We  cannot  wonder  at  his  yielding,  although  he 
ought  to  have  persisted  in  the  course  he  had  adopted  ;  and 
although  by  acting  contrary  to  his  own  expressed  convictions, 
he  justly  exposed  himself  to  Paul's  charge  of  "  dissimulation." 
He  failed  not  so  grievously,  but  in  the  same  way,  when  he 
denied  Christ.  He  had,  at  Antioch,  as  in  the  courts  of  the 
high  priest,  thrown  himself  uncalled  into  danger.  He  was 
out  of  his  place,  and  therefore  weak.  He  sacrificed  his  con- 
science to  his  fears. 

Paul  accuses  Peter  of  "  dissimulation"  in  this  matter.  This 
is  a  heavy  charge,  and  its  meaning  has  been  somewhat  ques- 
tioned. Some  suppose  that  Peter  took  alarm  immediately  on 
the  arrival  of  the  persons  from  Jerusalem,  whose  character  and 
temper  must  have  been  known  to  him,  and  immediately  with- 
drew from  the  society  of  the  Gentile  converts,  and  attempted 
to  conceal  the  fact  of  his  previously  liberal  intercourse  with 
them.  It  seems  more  likely,  however,  that  by  the  use  of  this 
word,  Paul  shows  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that,  in  proceed- 
ing as  Peter  did,  he  acted  from  views  of  expediency,  in  oppo- 
sition to  his  real  convictions,  which  remained  unchanged  ; 
while  his  conduct  could  not  but  lead  the  Jews  to  think  that 
his  views,  and  those  of  Paul,  were  different,  and  must  have  led 
the  Gentiles  to  conclude  that  he  had  altered  his  opinions. 

So,  in  speaking  of  Peter,  and  of  Barnabas  after  he  had  been 
led  astray  by  Peter's  example,  he  says — "  I  saw  that  they 
walked  not  uprightly,  according  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel." 
By  this  we  should  judge  him  to  mean,  that  they  walked  not 
straight  onward  in  the  path  of  principle  and  duty,  but  leaned 
aside  to  natural  prejudices  and  compromising  expedients, 
thereby  throwing  doubt  and  obscurity  on  the  true  gospel, 
that  men  are  saved  entirely  "  by  faith,"  through  the  redemp- 
tion that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  was  a  point  on  which  Paul 
was  peculiarly  sensitive  ;  in  which  he  saw  his  way  clearly,  and 
which  he  would  not  allow  to  be  compromised.  It  was,  there- 
fore, doubtless,  the  perception  of  this  danger  which  led  him 
to  the  step  he  presently  took. 


302  forty-ninth  week sunday. 

paul's  reproof. — galatians  ii.  14-21. 

Now  let  us  see  what  was  the  conduct  of  Paul  under  the 
trying  circumstances  described  last  evening.  It  was  a  matter 
that  concerned  him  deeply,  as  involving  essential  principles 
which  he  had  entirely  at  heart ;  and,  as  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  it  fell  particularly  within  his  province,  and  it  behoved 
him  to  act  with  firmness  and  decision. 

He  did  so. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  meeting  of  both  the  parties 
in  this  question,  perhaps  specially  convened  for  its  considera- 
tion ;  or  it  may  be  that  Paul  went  to  a  meeting  of  the  Jew- 
ish converts,  at  which  Peter  was  present.  Paul's  expression 
"  before  them  all,"  or  "  before  all,"  may  bear  either  meaning. 
At  such  a  meeting,  "  before  them  all,"  Paul  says,  "  I  withstood 
Peter  to  the  face,  because  he  was  to  be  blamed  ;"  and  in  a 
temperate,  but  closely  reasoned  and  convincing  speech,  ex- 
posed the  inconsistency  and  the  dangerous  tendency  of  the 
error  of  conduct  into  which  he  had  fallen  ;  ending  with  the 
emphatic  words  :  "  If  righteousness  came  by  the  law,  then 
Christ  is  dead  in  vain."  Many  reasons  are  conceivable  which 
must  have  rendered  this  public  reproof  of  Peter  a  most  try- 
ing and  painful  task,  which,  if  he  could  have  done  so  con- 
sistently with  the  duties  of  his  supreme  allegiance  to  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel,  he  would  gladly  have  avoided.  But  the 
error  had  been  public  ;  its  consequences  were  of  serious  pub- 
lic concern,  and  a  merely  private  remonstrance  would  no  longer 
meet  the  grave  demands  of  the  case.  Then  perceiving  the 
obligation  that  lay  upon  him  of  speaking  out  plainly,  "  Paul 
did  not  keep  silent,  as  if  he  was  afraid  of  Peter  as  a  superior ; 
he  was  not  awed  by  the  example  of  so  great  an  apostle  into 
the  silent  sanction  of  what  he  thought  wrong ;  and  he  did 
not  oppose  Peter  by  secret  insinuation  by  speaking  evil  of 


PAUL'S    REPROOF.  303 

him  when  he  was  absent, — he  avowed  to  himself  his  dissat- 
isfaction with  his  conduct."* 

The  result  of  this  transaction  is  not  recorded ;  but  we 
scarcely  need  hesitate  to  hope  that  Paul's  faithful  remonstrance 
had  its  full  effect  upon  Peter,  and  tended  to  heal  this  division 
in  the  church  at  Antioch.  It  is  well  remarked  by  Barnesf 
in  this  place  : — "  Exciteable  as  Peter  was  by  nature,  there  is 
no  evidence  that  he  became  angry  here,  or  that  he  did  not  re- 
ceive the  admonitions  of  his  brother  Paul  with  perfect  good 
temper,  and  with  an  acknowledgment  that  Paul  was  right, 
and  he  was  wrong.  Indeed  the  case  was  so  plain, — as  it 
usually  is  if  men  would  be  honesty— that  he  seems  to  have  felt 
that  it  was  right,  and  to  have  received  the  rebuke  as  became 
a  Christian.  Peter  unhappily  was  accustomed  to  rebukes  ; 
but  he  was  at  heart  too  good  a  man  to  be  offended  when  ad- 
monished that  he  had  done  wrong.  A  good  man  is  willing 
to  be  reproved  when  he  has  erred  ;  and  it  is  usually  a  proof 
that  there  is  much  that  is  wrong,  when  we  become  excited  or 
irritable  if  another  admonishes  us  of  our  faults.  It  may  be 
added  here,  that  nothing  is  to  be  inferred  from  this  with  re- 
gard to  the  inspiration  or  apostolic  authority  of  Peter.  The 
fault  was  not  that  he  taught  error  of  doctrine,  but  that  he 
sinned  in  conduct.  Inspiration,  though  it  kept  the  apostles 
from  teaching  error,  did  not  keep  them  necessarily  from  sin. 
A  man  may  always  teach  the  truth,  and  yet  be  far  from  per- 
fect in  practice.  The  case  here  proves  that  Peter  was  not  per- 
fect,— a  fact  proved  by  his  whole  life  ;  it  proves  that  he  was 
sometimes  timid,  and  even,  for  a  period,  time-serving ;  but  it 
does  not  prove  that  what  he  wrote  for  our  guidance  is  false 
or  erroneous." 

It  is  well  to  have  this  point  noticed, — for  between  the  fear 
that  this  affair  might  bring  Peter's  inspired  authority,  or  the 
authority  of  inspiration  generally,  into  question,  and  the  de- 
sire to  relieve  from  this  stain  the  character  of  one  who  came 
to  be  looked  up  to  with  mistaken  reverence  as  the  prince  of 

*  Dr.  Brown — Expos.  Discourses,  p.  83. 
f  Notes,  etc.,  on  Gal.  ii.  14. 


304  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK SUNDAY". 

Jie  apostles,  some  curious  explanations  of  the  transaction 
were  held  by  many  teachers  in  the  ancient,  and  particularly 
the  Eastern  Church.  They  represented  the  disagreement  be- 
tween the  two  apostles  as  merely  apparent,  and  that  the  whole 
affair  was  got  up  by  mutual  agreement, — a  sham  fight,  in 
short,  to  serve  a  purpose, — thus  compromising  the  morality 
of  two  apostles  to  save  the  character  of  one.  Clement  of 
Alexandria  found  another  resource.  "  Cephas,"  instead  of 
"  Peter,"  is,  perhaps,  the  preferable  reading  in  the  record  of 
the  transaction  ;  and  Clement,  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
case,  extemporises  another  Cephas  than  Peter,  as  the  antag- 
onist of  Paul  on  this  occasion.  Some  other  ancient  inter- 
preters, and  even  some  modern  ones,  give  in  their  adhesion 
to  this  strange  notion,  so  palpably  refuted  by  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case. 

We  are  unwilling  to  close  the  review  we  have  taken  of  this 
important  and  interesting  circumstance  without  producing  a 
passage,  in  which  a  recent  writer  endeavors,  by  the  aid  of 
ancient  intimations,  to  realize  the  scene  to  the  mind  of  the 
reader  by  a  description  of  the  personal  appearance  of  the  two 
apostles,  "  The  scene,  though  slightly  mentioned,  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  in  sacred  history  ;  and  the  mind  nat- 
urally labors  to  picture  to  itself  the  appearance  of  the  two 
men.  It  is,  therefore,  at  least  allowable  to  mention  here  that 
general  notion  of  the  forms  and  features  of  the  two  apostles 
which  has  been  handed  down  in  tradition,  and  was  represented 
by  the  early  artists.  St.  Paul  is  set  before  us  as  having  the 
strongly-marked  and  prominent  features  of  a  Jew,  yet  not 
without  some  of  the  finer  lines  indicative  of  a  Greek  thought. 
His  stature  was  diminutive,  and  his  body  disfigured  by  some 
lameness  or  distortion,  which  may  have  provoked  the  con- 
temptuous expressions  of  his  enemies.  His  beard  was  long 
and  thin.  His  head  was  bald.  The  characteristics  of  his 
face  were  a  transparent  complexion,  which  visibly  betrayed  the 
quick  changes  of  his  feelings,  a  bright  gray  eye  under  thickly 
overhanging  united  eyebrows,  a  cheerful  and  winning  ex* 
pression  of  countenance,  which  invited  the  approach,  and  in* 


PAUL'S    REPROOF.  305 

spired  the  confidence  of  strangers.  It  would  be  natural  to 
infer  from  his  continual  journeys  and  manual  labor,  that  he 
was  possessed  of  great  strength  of  constitution.  But  men  of 
delicate  health  have  often  gone  through  the  greatest  exertions  ; 
and  his  own  words  on  more  than  one  occasion  show  that  he 
suffered  much  from  bodily  infirmity.  St.  Peter  is  represented 
to  us  as  a  man  of  larger  and  stronger  form,  as  his  character 
was  harsher  and  more  abrupt.  The  quick  impulses  of  his 
soul  revealed  themselves  in  the  flashes  of  a  dark  eye.  The 
complexion  of  his  face  was  pale  and  sallow  ;  and  the  short  hair, 
which  is  described  as  entirely  gray  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
curled  black  and  thick  round  his  temples  and  his  chin,  when 
the  two  apostles  stood  together  at  Antioch,  twenty  years  be- 
fore their  martyrdom."* 

It  should  be  observed,  that  in  the  passage  before  us,  Paul, 
after  his  direct  rebuke  of  Peter,  proceeded  to  declare  the  truth 
of  the  Gospel,  which  he  feared  might  be  obscured  by  the 
conduct  of  that  apostle,  and  the  rest ;  and  in  conclusion,  he 
enforced  by  their  operation  in  himself,  the  views  he  advocated, 
and  would  always  maintain.  The  last  passage  is  very  em- 
phatic and  striking  : — "  I  through  the  law  am  dead  to  the 
law,  that  I  might  live  unto  God.  I  am  crucified  with  Christ : 
nevertheless  I  live  ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and 
the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." 

Of  these  important  words  a  very  intelligible  and  effective 
interpretation  is  given  by  Dr.  Brown,  in  the  form  of  a  para- 
phrase, which  we  are  glad  to  be  able  to  adopt : — "  '  By  .the 
law  having  had  its  full  course  so  as  to  be  glorified  in  the 
obedience  to  death  of  Him  in  whom  I  am,  I  am  completely 
delivered  from  the  law.  The  law  has  no  more  to  do  with 
me,  and  I  have  no  more  to  do  with  it  in  the  matter  of  justi- 
fication. And  this  freedom  from  law  is  at  once  necessary  and 
effectual  to  my  living  a  truly  holy  life — a  life  devoted  to  God.' 
What  follows  is  explanatory  of  this  thought,  which  was  ever 

*  Conetbfaee  and  Howson — Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i. 
240,  241. 


306  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

present  to  the  mind  of  the  apostle,—'  I  consider  myself  as 
identified  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  '  I  am  crucified  with 
Christ.'  I  view  myself  as  so  connected  with  Christ,  as  that 
when  He  was  crucified  I  was,  as  it  were,  crucified ;  and  I  am 
as  much  interested  in  the  effects  of  that  crucifixion  as  if  I  had 
undergone  it  myself.  He,  in  being  crucified,  endured  the 
curse,  and  I  in  Him  endured  it ;  so  that  I  am  redeemed  from 
the  law  and  its  curse,  He  having  become  a  curse  for  me. 
1  Nevertheless  I  lire.'  Christ  died,  and  in  Him  I  died  ;  Christ 
revived,  and  in  Him  I  revived.  I  am  a  dead  man  with  re- 
gard to  the  law,  but  I  am  a  living  man  in  regard  to  Christ. 
The  law  has  killed  me,  and  by  doing  so,  it  has  set  me  free 
from  itself.  I  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  law.  The  life  I 
have  now,  is  not  the  life  of  a  man  under  the  law,  but  the  life 
of  a  man  delivered  from  the  law  ;  having  died  and  risen  again 
with  Christ  Jesus,  Christ's  righteousness  justifies  me,  Christ's 
Spirit  animates  me.  My  relations  to  God  are  his  relations. 
The  influences  under  which  I  live  are  the  influences  under 
which  He  lives.  Christ's  views  are  my  views  ;  Christ's  feel- 
ings my  feelings.  He  is  the  soul  of  my  soul,  the  life  of  my 
life.  My  state,  my  sentiments,  my  feelings,  my  conduct,  are 
all  Christian.  '  And  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I 
live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave 
himself  for  me.'  '  The  life  I  live  in  the  flesh'  is  the  life  I  live 
in  this  mortal  body,  this  embodied  state.  The  belief  of  the 
truth  is  the  regulating  principle  of  my  conduct.  It  is,  as  it 
were,  the  soul  of  the  new  creature.  I  no  longer  think,  or  feel, 
or  set  like  a  Jew,  or  like  a  man  born  merely  after  the  flesh. 
All  my  opinions,  sentiments,  and  habits,  are  subject  to  the 
truth  about  Him  '  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me  ;' 
and  I  live  devoted  to  Him  who  died  devoted  for  me." 


THE    SHARP    CONTENTION.  307 

FORTY-NINTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE  SHARP  CONTENTION. ACTS  XV.  36-41. 

Not  long  after  the  transactions  which  last  engaged  our  at- 
tention, Paul,  animated  by  that  keen  interest  in  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  his  converts,  which  glows  through  the  epistles  af- 
terwards written,  conceived  an  earnest  desire  to  revisit  the 
places  where  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  by  him  and  Bar- 
nabas in  their  former  missionary  tour.  "  Let  us  go  again," 
he  said  to  the  other,  *'  and  visit  our  brethren  in  every  city 
where  we  have  preached  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  see  how 
they  do." 

Barnabas  was  very  willing ;  but  it  would  seem  that  the 
band  of  brotherhood  had  been  somewhat  relaxed  between 
them,  in  the  recent  affairs  wherein  Paul  had  been  greatly  vex- 
ed by  the  unsteadiness  of  Barnabas ;  and  the  latter  had  prob- 
ably been  somewhat  hurt  at  being  involved  with  Peter  and 
others  in  the  public  reproof  administered  by  one  whose  patron 
he  had  in  some  sort  been,  but  who  was  already  become  not 
only  a  more  prominent  teacher  in  the  church  than  himself, 
but  a  more  regarded  leader  in  that  very  church  which  he  had 
himself  founded.  We  are  not  bound  to  overlook  these  prob- 
abilities, which  lie  in  human  nature ;  and  we  know  that  these 
excellent  men  were,  as  they  declared  to  the  Lystrians,  "  men 
of  like  passions  that  we  are  ;"  and  we  know 

"  How  slight  a  cause  may  move 
Dissension  between  hearts  that  love," 

when  once  such  uneasiness  of  feeling  has  been  created  as  that 
which  this  affair  was  calculated  to  excite,  and  seems  to  have 
excited.  In  this  case  an  outbreak  commonly  occurs  sooner 
or  later ;  and  is  often,  if  not  always,  supplied  by  some  very 
inadequate  cause.  In  this  case  the  immediate  cause  of  differ- 
ence was  supplied  by  the  declared  intention  of  Barnabas,  that 
Mark  should  accompany  them  on  this  proposed  tour.     Paul 


308  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK— MONDAY. 

had  no  ground  for  interference  when  the  uncle  thought  propel 
to  bring  his  nephew  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch ;  but  now 
when  it  was  proposed  to  make  Mark  a  third  party  in  the  de- 
mands and  responsibilities  of  a  missionary  journey,  Paul  very 
strongly  objected.  But  Barnabas  persisted,  and  then  Paul's 
objections  rose  into  absolute  refusal.  Barnabas  declared  that 
he  would  not  go  without  Mark,  and  Paul  protested  that  he 
would  not  go  with  Mark.  In  short,  there  was  nothing  less 
than  "  a  sharp  contention  "  between  the  two,  which,  as  is  usual 
in  such  cases,  probably  branched  out  right  and  left  into  mat- 
ters not  immediately  connected  with  the  question  in  hand, 
producing  altogether  a  sad  breach  between  friends  who  had 
together  "  hazarded  their  lives  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Which  of  the  two  was  right,  or  which  was  wrong,  we  can- 
not very  well  say.  Probably  they  were  both  right  and  both 
wrong — right  in  some  points  and  wrong  in  others.  We  in- 
cline to  suppose  that  Paul  was  rightest  on  their  present  knowl- 
edge ;  but  that  Barnabas  is  shown  to  be  the  rightest  by  our 
after  knowledge.  Barnabas  had  confidence  in  Mark's  present 
steadiness,  and  the  result  shows  that  this  confidence  was  not 
misplaced.  Having  this  confidence,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  be  exceedingly  unwilling  that  one,  to  whom  he  stood 
in  an  almost  paternal  relation,  should  be  turned  back  at  the 
threshold  of  life,  from  that  career  of  usefulness  in  the  Lord's 
vineyard  for  which  he  seemed  fitted,  and  which  he  now  ear- 
nestly desired  to  follow,  and  all  for  a  fault  of  which  he  had  by 
this  time  heartily  repented.  It  seemed  too  hard.  Are  faults 
never  to  be  forgiven  ?  are  their  consequences  to  follow  us  forever  ? 
O  Lord,  if  Thou  be  extreme  to  mark  our  failure  of  duty — 0 
Lord,  who  then  shall  stand  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  Paul  had  not  the  same  grounds  as  Bar- 
nabas for  confidence  in  Mark,  nor  the  same  personal  reasons 
for  overlooking  his  error.  In  a  case  where  he  could  not  judge 
.he  heart,  and  had  not  acquired  confidence  in  the  party  con- 
cerned, it  might  seem  unsafe  to  proceed  on  any  other  grounds 
than  those  of  public  duty,  and  the  safety  and  honor  of  the 


THE    SHARP    CONTENTION.  309 

work  intrusted  to  him.  That  work  required  steady  men  ;  and 
one  who  had  already,  with  respect  to  the  very  same  journey, 
exhibited  infirmity  of  purpose  and  considerable  disregard  for 
his  fellow  travellers,  could  hardly  be  considered  as  having 
evinced  any  particular  qualification  for  the  work ;  and  that 
work  was  scarcely  one  upon  which  to  try  experiments  with 
uncertain  characters.  Indeed,  that  was  a  point  on  which  our 
Lord  himself,  it  would  be  remembered,  had  pronounced  a 
strong  verdict,  when  He  declared  that  "He  who  putteth  his 
hand  to  the  plough,  and  looketh  back,  is  not  fit  for  the  king- 
dom of  God." 

In  this  unhappy  contention  it  may  seem  that  Barnabas  was 
the  more  irascible,  or  the  less  placable,  of  the  two  ;  for  he  was 
the  first  to  leave  Antioch,  instead  of  lingering  behind  to  the 
last  moment,  in  the  hope  that  some  accommodation  between 
himself  and  Paul  might  be  finally  attained.  He  took  Mark 
with  him  and  went  to  Cyprus,  seemingly  taking  upon  himself 
that  portion  of  what  was  to  have  been  the  united  journey  of 
Paul  and  himself,  for  the  churches  in  Cyprus  required  also  to 
be  visited.  Thus  the  cause  of  the  church  suffered  no  loss  by 
this  difference,  but  gained  rather.  There  was  gain  ;  for  Paul 
having  to  take  a  new  companion  in  place  of  Barnabas,  there 
were  thus  two  couples  of  travelling  laborers,  where  only  one 
pair  had  been  contemplated. 

We  hear  no  more  of  Barnabas  in  Scripture.  But  many 
have  supposed  that  he  is  "  the  brother  whose  praise  is  in  all  the 
churches,"  mentioned  by  Paul  in  2  Cor.  viii.  18,  19,  on  which 
supposition  it  is  concluded  that  not  only  were  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas reconciled  after  this  separation,  but  that  they  again  la- 
bored together.  All  this,  however,  rests  on  the  identity  of 
Barnabas  with  this  "  brother,"  which  seems  to  us  very  doubtful. 
The  absence  of  any  explicit  mention,  either  in  the  history  or 
the  epistles,  of  so  prominent  and  active  a  person  as  Barnabas 
had  been,  would  rather  lead  to  the  inference  that  he  did  not 
long  survive  the  separation,  And  with  this  agrees  the  current 
traditional  account  of  his  subsequent  history — an  account 
which,  although  it  rests  on  no  satisfactory  authority,  seems 


310  FORTY-NINTH  WEEK MONDAY. 

probable  enough  in  its  main  circumstances.  According  to  this 
account,  Barnabas,  with  Mark,  after  passing  through  the  whole 
island  of  Cyprus,  and  converting  large  numbers  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  arrived  at  length  at  Salamis,  where  he  preached  in 
the  synagogue  with  great  success.  He  was,  however,  followed 
thither  by  some  Jews  from  Syria,  whose  leader,  according  to 
one  account,  Barjesus  became.  These  men  succeeded  in  ex- 
citing the  minds  of  the  people  against  Barnabas,  who  perceiv- 
ing that  his  last  hour  was  at  hand,  took  leave  of  the  brethren 
after  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Having  then  given 
his  nephew  directions  respecting  his  interment,  and  charged 
him  to  return  to  Paul  after  his  decease,  he  proceeded  to  the 
Jewish  synagogue.  He  there  began  to  preach  Christ,  as  was 
his  custom.  But  the  Jews  at  once  laid  hands  upon  him,  and 
shut  him  up  till  night.  They  then  dragged  him  forth,  and, 
after  stoning  him,  reduced  his  body  to  ashes.  According  to 
another  account,  however,  the  corpse  was  preserved  from  the 
flames,  and  secretly  conveyed  away  by  Mark,  and  deposited 
in  a  cavern  about  five  stadia  from  the  city.  Mark  then  joined 
Paul  at  Ephesus,  as  his  uncle  had  directed,  and  afterwards 
accompanied  the  apostle  to  Rome. 

Mark  certainly  did  join  Paul,  as  we  have  already  seen.  If 
he  did  so  after  the  death  of  Barnabas,  and  by  his  desire,  this 
was  certainly  an  impressive  act  of  reconcilement ;  and  this  is 
still  more  emphatically  indicated  if  Barnabas  was  still  alive 
when  Mark  went  to  join  Paul.  Neither  Barnabas  nor  Mark 
then  cherished  any  spark  of  resentment  against  Paul,  nor 
Paul  against  either  of  them.  That  Mark  went  to  Paul  shows 
that  he  was  the  first  to  move  in  this  matter ;  and  we  cannot 
doubt  that,  in  taking  this  step,  he  acted  by  the  counsel  of 
Barnabas,  whether  at  the  time  living  or  dead.  And  we  may 
suppose  he  was  charged  with  the  expression  of  his  uncle's 
grief  at  the  remembrance  of  the  "  sharp  contention"  which 
had  formerly  taken  place  between  them. 


TIMOTHY.  311 

FORTY-NINTH  WEEK.— TUESDAY. 

TIMOTHY. ACTS  XVI.   1-3. 

In  contemplating  the  journey  before  him,  Paul  probably 
felt  that  the  absence  of  Barnabas  would  be  likely  to  place 
him  at  some  disadvantage  ;  for  not  only  had  Barnabas  been 
with  him  as  an  equal  laborer  in  the  previous  visit  to  the  same 
places,  but  the  name  of  Barnabas  was  joined  in  commission 
with  his  own  in  the  apostolic  decree,  at  least  so  far  as  regarded 
the  authoritative  promulgation  of  the  decree  to  the  churches. 

The  wise  providence  of  God  had,  however,  provided  for  this 
exigency  by  the  fact  that  one  of  the  two  distinguished  persons 
who  had  been  sent  by  the  church  at  Jerusalem  to  Antioch, 
with  Paul  and  Barnabas,  as  vouchers  for  the  decree,  in  which 
they  are,  indeed,  expressly  named,  still  remained  at  Antioch. 
This  was  Silas ;  and  it  is  at  once  apparent,  even  to  us,  that 
this  was  the  most  suitable  person  to  be  his  companion  for  the 
intended  journey,  whom  it  could  be  well  possible  to  find  as  a 
substitute  for  Barnabas.  He  was  a  leading  man  in  the  church  ; 
he  was  endowed  with  special  gifts ;  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
had  avouched  his  character  and  qualifications  ;  and  Paul  had 
been  enough  in  his  company  to  know  that  he  should  find  in 
him  a  valuable  coadjutor.  Silas  readily  responded  to  the  call 
thus  made  upon  him  ;  and  the  two,  having  been  in  united 
prayer  "  recommended  by  the  brethren  unto  the  grace  of  God," 
set  forth  upon  their  important  journey.  That  journey,  though 
it  included  all  the  places  where  churches  had  been  founded  in 
the  former  missionary  tour  with  Barnabas,  became  much  more 
extensive  than  had  been  originally  contemplated.  It  com- 
menced, however,  by  the  intended  visitation  of  the  churches 
formerly  established.  They  were,  however,  visited  in  a  re- 
verted order,  those  being  first  reached  which  had  been  estab- 
lished last  in  the  previous  journey.  Departing  from  Antioch, 
Paul  and  Silas  necessarily  passed  through  the  northernmost 
part  of  Syria,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Cilicia,  "  confirming  the 


312  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

churches"  in  their  way.  These  were,  no  doubt,  churches 
which  had  been  of  earlier  establishment.  Their  names  are  not 
given,  but  we  may  be  allowed  to  suppose  that  on  this  occasion 
Paul  once  more  saw  his  native  city  of  Tarsus. 

They  then  passed  into  Lycaonia,  lying  to  the  north  of  Cili- 
eia,  and  we  find  them  once  more  at  Derbe ;  but  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this,  any  more  than  of  the  former  visit  to  this 
town,  no  particulars  are  given.  They  now  proceeded  on  their 
way,  and  passing  the  gate  before  which  was  the  temple  or 
image  of  Jupiter,  stood  within  the  streets  of  Lystra,  where 
Paul  had  been  first  worshipped  as  a  god,  and  then  stoned  as 
an  offender.  All  that  is  recorded  at  this  place  relates  to  the 
acquisition  of  an  addition  to  the  missionary  party,  in  the  per- 
son of  a  young  convert  named  Timothy.  This  youth  seems 
to  have  been  a  native  of  Lystra — the  son  of  a  Jewish  mother, 
but  of  a  Greek  father.  He  had  been  very  carefully  brought 
up,  even  from  a  child,  by  his  grandmother  and  his  mother,  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  which  had 
thus  become  familiar  to  him  ;  and,  under  such  holy  training, 
he  inherited,  in  full  measure,  the  "  unfeigned"  Messianic  "  faith 
that  dwelt  first  in  his  grandmother,  Lois,  and  his  mother, 
Eunice."  The  soil  being  thus  prepared,  received  favorably 
the  good  seed  which  Paul  had  sown,  in  his  former  visit  to 
these  parts.  His  name,  indeed,  does  not  occur  in  that  journey  ; 
but  we  now  see  that  the  young  man  was  already  a  Christian 
when  Lystra  was  revisited  ;  and  as  Paul  addresses  him  as  "  his 
own  son  in  the  faith," — that  is,  one  converted  by  himself,  it  is 
clear  that  his  conversion  must  have  taken  place  in  the  former 
journey.  It  was  but  lately  that  we  called  attention  to  a  pas- 
sage in  one  of  Paul's  epistles  to  this  person,  in  which  he  ap- 
peals to  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  persecutions  he  had 
endured  at  Antioch,  at  Iconiura,  and  at  Lystra ;  and  this  knowl- 
edge was  probably  personal,  at  least  at  Lystra,  at  which  place 
— if  that  indeed  was  his  ordinary  residence — he  had  been 
doubtless  an  eye-witness  of  the  evil  treatment  the  apostle  re- 
ceived, and  was  probably  one  of  "  the  brethren"  who  stood 
mournfully  around  him  as  he  lay  for  dead. 


TIMOTHY.  313 

What  Timothy  had  heard  from  Paul,  what  he  had  witnessed 
of  his  conduct,  the  example  he  had  so  unostentatiously  offered 
of  valor  for  the  truth,  could  hardly  fail  to  make  the  most  pro- 
found and  salutary  impression  upon  a  mind  so  youthfully  im- 
pressible as  his.  It  was  nutritive  ;  and  blessed  by  the  Divine 
Spirit,  it  so  ministered  to  his  spiritual  growth,  that  by  the 
time  Paul  had  now  come  back,  he  had  become  a  marked  per- 
son in  the  esteem  of  the  brethren  in  this  and  the  neighboring 
towns,  particularly  at  Iconium.  His  love  to  Christ  was  so 
touchingly  profound,  his  faith  so  invincible,  his  devotedness  so 
entire,  his  zeal  so  fervent,  his  endowments  so  manifest,  that 
the  local  churches  cherished  the  belief  that  notwithstanding 
his  delicate  health  and  "  often  infirmities,"  eminent  services  in 
the  church  of  Christ  might  be  expected  from  him.  Paul 
heard  of  this  before  he  again  saw  him,  and  the  tidings  filled 
his  heart  with  joy.  He  gladly  yielded  to  the  young  man's 
entreaty  to  be  permitted  to  attend  him  in  his  journey ;  and 
very  soon  the  apostle  conceived  for  his  young  convert  that 
beautiful  paternal  regard  which  shines  through  his  epistles  to 
him,  and  which  will  to  many  minds  appear  as  one  of  the  most 
charming  things  in  the  history  of  Paul. 

Before,  however,  Paul  took  Timothy  with  him,  he  thought 
proper  to  subject  him  to  the  initiatory  Jewish  rite.  This  has 
occasioned  some  perplexity,  seeing  that  not  long  ago  Paul 
had  very  firmly,  and  with  the  sanction  of  the  apostles  of  the 
circumcision,  resisted  the  attempts  made  to  impose  this  rit6 
upon  Titus.  Some  of  the  early  Christian  writers  made  much 
of  this  difficulty,  and  could  not  surmount  it  but  by  supposing 
that  a  similar  concession  had  subsequently  been  made  in  the 
case  of  Titus — a  most  unwarrantable  and  wholly  needless  sup- 
position. The  cases  were  altogether  different,  and  sufficient 
to  explain  and  justify  a  difference  of  procedure.  Titus  was 
wholly  a  Greek  ;  and  the  object  in  his  case  was  to  withstand 
false  teachers,  and  protect  the  flock  from  their  requisitions. 
In  the  case  of  Timothy,  the  object  was  to  procure  admission 
for  him  into  the  synagogues  in  which  the  Gospel  had  not  yet 
been  preached,  and  with  which  Paul  had  to  connect  his  labors 

VOL.   iv.  14 


314  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

but  to  which  he  could  not  otherwise  have  had  access.  Paul 
testifies  of  himself  that  to  the  Jews  he  became  a  Jew,  to  wir 
those  who  would  not  else' be  won.*  Of  Timothy  he  asked  na 
more  than  this  :  and  he  was  entitled  to  ask  it ;  for,  according 
to  the  Jewish  rules,  the  child  should  follow  the  mother,  so 
that  the  son  of  a  mixed  marriage,  whose  mother  was  a  Jewess, 
should  be  circumcised,  otherwise  (and  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  now  makes  similar  conditions)  the  marriage  would 
not  have  been  recognized  by  the  Jewish  law.  This  had  been 
neglected  in  the  case  of  Timothy,  probably  from  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  father.  The  Jews  of  the  neighborhood  must  have 
been  aware  of  this ;  and  he  would  not  have  been  admitted 
among  them  had  not  Paul  made  good  the  omission. 


FORTY-NINTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE    GALATIANS. ACTS    XVI.    6  ;    GAL.    I.    1  ;    IV.   13-15. 

From  Lystra  Paul  proceeded  to  Iconium  ;  but  as  the  fact 
of  his  visit  to  this  city  only  incidentally  transpires,  we  are  not 
to  infer  that  he  did  not  proceed  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  merely 
because  it  is  not  mentioned  that  he  did  so,  and  because  in 
consequence  Iconium,  as  the  last-named  place  seems  to  be 
made  the  starting  point  of  a  new  journey.  Indeed,  the  state- 
ment, that  they  "  went  through  the  cities,"  delivering  the  de- 
cree, and  that  the  churches  were  "  established  in  the  faith,  and 
increased  in  number  daily,"  implies,  not  only  that  all  the 
places  in  which  churches  had  previously  been  established  were 
visited,  but  that  some  time  was  spent  in  active  missionary 
labor  in  these  parts. 

At  length,  however,  it  was  deemed  desirable  to  enter  upon 

new  ground ;  and  therefore  Paul,  with  Silas  and  Timothy, 

proceeded  northward  "  throughout  Phrygia  and  the  region  of 

Galatia."     It  is  usual  to  describe  Phrygia  as  "a  large  and 

*  1  Cor.  k.  20. 


THE    GALATIANS.  315 

populous  province  of  Asia  Minor," — and  such  indeed  it  had 
become  in  the  age  of  Constantine.  But  at  this  time,  and  long 
before  and  after,  the  term  Phrygia  had  no  political  significance, 
but  was  merely  a  geographical  expression  denoting  a  debate- 
able  country  of  indeterminate  extent,  diffused  over  the  frontiers 
of  the  province  of  Asia  and  Galatia,  but  belonging  chiefly  to 
the  former. 

In  Galatia  we,  for  Paul's  sake,  take  a  deeper  interest,  and 
concerning  it  there  is  no  lack  of  information. 

This  province  was  inhabited  by  a  peculiar  people  of  Gaulish 
origin,  from  whom  it  took  the  name  of  Galatia.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  Gaulish  settlement,  and  Galatia  was  the  Gaul  of  the 
East.  Some  may  wonder  to  see  a  Gaulish  colony  prosper- 
ously established  in  the  heart  of  Lesser  Asia,  and  would  be 
perplexed  to  guess  how  they  got  there.  The  Galatians,  then, 
were  a  stream  from  that  torrent  of  Gaulish  barbarians  which 
poured  into  Greece  in  the  third  century  before  Christ,  and 
which  recoiled  in  confusion  from  the  cliffs  of  Delphi.  These 
tribes  had  previously  separated  from  the  main  army,  and 
penetrated  into  Thrace.  There  they  were  joined  by  a  number 
of  the  fugitives  from  the  broken  army.  They  found  no  power 
here  which  could  effectually  oppose  them  ;  and  soon  the  coast 
of  the  Propontis  came  under  tribute  to  them,  and  they  were 
masters  of  its  fair  towns  and  cities.  Thus  they  remained  a 
good  while ;  but  at  length  considering  that  only  a  narrow 
strait  separated  them  in  one  part  from  the  fertile  plains  and 
valleys  of  Asia,  of  which  they  had  already  received  pleasing 
reports,  they  conceived  an  eager  desire  to  pass  over  and  claim 
a  heritage  there.  They  had  no  ships,  however,  and  could  not 
devise  the  means  of  getting  over,  and  in  this  perplexity  they 
actually  sent  to  Antipater,  the  governor  of  the  opposite  coast, 
to  fetch  them  over.  To  this  he  naturally  demurred  ;  and  the 
Gaulish  princes  meanwhile  quarrelling  among  themselves,  one 
of  them  led  back  the  greater  part  of  the  forces  to  Byzantium 
whence  they  had  come.  The  leader  of  those  that  remained  at 
the  straits  soon  found  the  means  of  crossing  over.  He  seized 
the  vessels  in  which  Antipater  had  sent  over  an  embassy  to 


316  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

watch  their  proceedings,  and,  by  incessantly  passing  to  and  fro 
night  and  day,  succeeded  in  getting  over  all  his  army.  Not 
long  after,  the  Gauls  who  had  withdrawn  in  the  first  instance, 
went  over  also,  being  actually  assisted  by  Nicomedes,  king  of 
Bithynia,  who  craved  the  aid  of  their  good  swords  in  his  wars. 
That  aid  was  very  effectual ;  and  when,  having  performed 
their  work,  they  marched  inland  to  carve  out  their  own  for- 
tunes, the  nations  on  that  side  of  the  Taurus  shrunk  in  terror 
before  these  awful  barbarians — though,  as  Livy  affirms,  there 
were  but  20,000  of  them,  and  not  more  than  half  of  these 
armed.  The  terror  of  their  name  made  conquest  easy  ;  and 
in  no  long  lime  the  whole  of  the  peninsula  north  of  the  Taurus 
became  tributary  to  them.  The  suzerainty  and  tributes  of  this 
region — but  not,  as  some  state,  its  territorial  occupation — they 
divided  among  their  three  tribes,  the  Tectosages,  the  Trocmi, 
and  the  Tolistoboii,  remaining  themselves  seated  chiefly  on  the 
Halys,  that  is,  in  the  district  which,  from  their  occupation  of 
it,  acquired  the  name  of  Galatia.  Here  they. lived  in  great 
prosperity,  increasing  rapidly  in  numbers.  They  took  part  in 
all  the  wars  of  the  time,  hiring  themselves  out  as  mercenary 
troops ;  and  we  find  them  acting  as  body  guards  to  the  kings 
of  Syria  and  of  Egypt.  Even  Herod  the  Great  had  four 
hundred  of  them  in  his  pay. 

In  time,  however,  the  neighboring  monarchs  found  means 
to  curtail  their  power,  and  at  length  it  was  confined  to  what 
had  come  to  be  considered  their  proper  territory.  The  Romans, 
who  had  turned  their  arms  against  them,  after  the  war  with 
Antiochus  the  Great,  as  the  only  power  capable  of  giving  any 
disturbance,  left  them  in  nominal  independence,  and  it  was 
only  upon  the  death  of  their  last  king  Amyntas,  in  the  time 
of  Augustus,  that  Galatia  became  a  Roman  province. 

These  Gallo-Grsecians  yielded  but  slowly,  and  never  entirely, 
to  the  softening  influences  of  the  Greek  civilization  by  which 
they  were  surrounded.  Indeed,  they  seem  for  a  long  time  to 
have  resisted  that  influence,  and  to  have  maintained,  on  cal- 
culation, that  ferocious  and  formidable  aspect  by  which  the 
original  inhabitants  had  been  so  greatly  terrified.     The  anom- 


THE    GALATIANS.  317 

alous  aspect  of  this  "  fierce  and  cruel  nation,"  set  down  in 
midst  of  a  people  of  all  others  most  mild  and  tractable,  struck 
the  attention  of  the  consul  Manlius,  and  is  mentioned  by  him 
in  his  speech  to  the  army  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign. 
He  also  gives  a  curious  description  of  their  personal  appear- 
ance, which  is  more  interesting  to  us  than  it  could  be  to  those 
who  had  already  met  them  in  battle,  in  the  army  of  Antiochus. 
They  were  men  of  large  person  and  tall  stature,  wearing  their 
yellow  hair  in  long  shining  locks.  They  carried  immense 
bucklers,  and  wielded  exceedingly  long  swords;  and  they 
came  to  battle  with  songs,  whoops,  and  dances,  clashing  their 
swords  and  targets,  and  making  altogether  a  horrible  noise, 
wherewith  to  dismay  their  opponents. 

Before  this  they  had,  however,  abandoned  their  native 
Druidism,  and  adopted  the  worship  of  Cybele ;  and  as  time 
passed  on,  and  when  from  the  increase  of  population,  and  the 
lapse  of  power,  and  the  cessation  of  wars,  they  ceased  to  be  a 
wholly  military  people,  many  of  their  specialities  melted  down  ; 
so  that  by  the  time  Paul  appeared  among  them,  they  had  be- 
come pretty  well  assimilated  to  their  neighbors,  although  still 
retaining  traces  of  their  origin.  They  had  then  long  been  famil- 
iar with  the  Greek  language  and  Greek  culture.  Paul  wrote  his 
epistle  to  them  in  Greek,  and  the  contemporary  inscriptions 
of  the  province  are  usually  in  that  language.  Indeed,  many 
of  the  inhabitants  must  have  been  of  purely  Greek  origin ; 
there  was  also  doubtless  a  material  substratum  of  the  early 
Phrygian  population  ;  and  there  seems  to  have  been  consider- 
able numbers  of  Jews  in  the  principal  towns. 

But  amid  changes  of  language,  religion,  institutions,  and 
habits  of  life,  we  often  see  that  the  mysterious  thing  called 
"  national  character,"  which  seems  to  flow  in  the  life  blood  of 
a  people,  remains  essentially  unaltered  through  the  lapse  of 
ages ;  and  it  may  not  be  difficult  to  recognize  in  the  Galatians, 
as  described  in  Paul's  epistle,  traits  of  character,  which  re- 
mind us  vividly  of  the  Gauls  as  described  to  us  by  ancient 
historians,  and  of  the  Gauls  as  known  to  our  living  expe 
rience. 


*U8  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

FORTY-NINTH  WEEK.— THURSDAY. 

THE    THORN    IN    THE    FLESH. 
GALATIANS  IV.  13-15  J    2  COR.  XII.  2-16. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  merely  states  the  simple  fact,  that 
Paul  preached  the  gospel  in  Galatia — indeed,  even  that  might 
not  seem  certain,  as  literally,  it  is  only  said  that  he  "  went 
through"  Galatia. 

It  is  to  Paul's  own  epistle  to  the  Galatians  that  we  owe  all 
the  information  we  possess  on  the  subject. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  when  this  epistle  was  written,  the 
apostle  had  been  twice  among  the  Galatians.  At  the  time  he 
wrote,  a  great  change  had  taken  place  in  the  feeling  of  the 
Galatian  churches  towards  him,  their  spiritual  father.  This 
had  been  the  work  of  Judaising  teachers,  who  had  led  this 
too  impulsive  and  unreflecting  people,  not  only  to  distrust  the 
soundness  of  his  great  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  but  to 
question  his  apostolic  authority.  This  induces  him  now  to  re- 
mind them  of  the  feelings  with  which  they  at  first  received 
him,  and  to  recall  the  circumstances  of  their  conversion. 

He  begins  by  reminding  them — "  You  know  how,  through 
infirmity  of  the  flesh,  I  preached  the  gospel  unto  you  at  first." 
The  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  means  bodily  illness,  severe  indis- 
position ;  and  it  would  seem  to  be  stated,  that  it  was  in  or  un- 
der these  disqualifying  conditions  that  he  first  preached  the 
gospel  in  Galatia.  But  it  has  been  lately  urged,  with  great 
ability,  by  Continental  critics,  that  the  proposition  (dia)  trans- 
lated through,  must  in  this,  and  some  other  places,  mean  on 
account  of,  or  because  of,  meaning  therefore  that  it  was  by 
reason  of  Paul's  illness  that  the  gospel  was  at  first  preached 
to  them — leaving  open  the  inference  that  it  was  his  intention 
to  have  merely  passed  through  Galatia  (perhaps  into  Bithynia) ; 
but  being  arrested  and  detained  among  them  by  indisposition, 
he  became  the  instrument  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity 


THE    THORN    IN    THE    FLESH.  D19 

in  Galatia  sooner  than  it  might  otherwise  have  been.  It  is, 
however,  difficult  to  see,  why  Paul  should  have  wished  to  pass 
through  a  district  in  which  the  gospel  had  not  yet  been 
preached,  without  attempting  to  make  the  glad  tidings  known 
— the  more  so  as  he  had  not  previously  been  in  any  of  the 
provinces  that  lay  beyond ;  and  the  sequel  agrees  better  with 
the  simple  statement,  that  he  preached  under  the  disqualifying 
circumstances  of  bodily  illness.  For  he  goes  on  to  say,  that 
notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  under  which  he  appear- 
ed, and  the  necessary  imperfection  of  his  labors,  he  was  treated 
with  affectionate  respect,  and  his  message  received  with  glad- 
ness. This  is  the  meaning  of  his  words :  "  My  temptation 
which  was  in  my  flesh  ye  despised  not,  nor  rejected ;  but  ye 
received  me  as  an  angel  of  God,  even  as  Jesus  Christ."  Here, 
as  the  same  Greek  word  means  "  angel"  and  "  messenger,"  the 
term  "angel  of  God"  may  signify  messenger  of  God.  At  the 
same  time,  as  Dr.  Brown  remarks — "  As  the  apostle's  object 
is  obviously  to  place  in  a  very  strong  point  of  view  the  high 
esteem,  the  warm  affection,  the  Galatians  showed  to  him,  I 
am  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  version  of  our  translators,  es- 
pecially as  this  seems  to  have  been  a  proverbial  expression* 
— '  an  angel  of  God,  nay,  Jesus  Christ  himself,  could  not  have 
been  more  respectfully,  more  affectionately  received  by  you, 
than  I  was,  with  all  my  infirmities.'  "f  The  apostle  then  goes 
on — the  tenderness  of  his  recollection  of  that  happy  time, 
rising  even  to  vehemence  of  earnestness — "  Where  is  then  the 
blessedness  ye  spake  of?  for  I  bear  you  record  that,  if  it  had 
been  possible,  ye  would  have  plucked  out  your  own  eyes  and 
given  them  to  me."  Or,  as  Dr.  Brown  paraphrases — "  Oh, 
how  happy  did  you  think  yourselves  in  having  me,  though  a 
poor  diseased  man,  for  your  teacher.  So  highly  did  you  value 
me,  so  much  did  you  prize  ray  labors,  that  there  was  nothing 
you  would  not  have  parted  with  to  make  me  happy !"  "  This," 
he  rightly  adds,  "  is  obviously  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrase, 
1  plucking  out  the  eyes.'  " 

*  2  Sam.  xix.  27.     f  Expository  Discourses  qn  Galatians,  p.  215. 


320  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

This  expression  has,  together  with  other  circumstances,  sug* 
gested  to  some  commentators,  that  the  indisposition  from 
which  he  suffered,  was  an  affection  of  the  eyes ;  and  that, 
whether  so  or  not,  it  was  that  habitual  infirmity  to  which  he 
often  refers  in  his  epistles,  and  which  in  one  place  he  emphat- 
ically indicates  under  the  expressive  metaphor  of  "  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh,"  given  to  him  as  a  chastening  discipline. 

One  thing  seems  clear,  that  he  had  already,  for  years,  been 
subject  to  this  habitual  infirmity,  sometimes  probably  more 
severely  manifested  than  at  others,  as  at  the  date  of  his  visit 
to  the  Galatians.  In  2  Cor.  xii.  7-10,  where  this  particular 
reference  to  it  occurs,  he  appears  to  trace  its  origin  to  a  period 
fourteen  years  anterior  to  the  date  of  his  then  writing.  Now 
that  epistle  is  usually  supposed  to  have  been  written  in  or 
about  the  year  57  a.  d.  :  the  visit  to  the  Galatians  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  more  than  six  years  prior  to  this,  and  the 
full  fourteen  years  would  take  us  back  to  about  the  close  of 
the  period  of  his  labors  in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  before  Barnabas 
brought  him  to  Antioch.  The  bodily  infirmity,  therefore, 
which  the  Galatians,  as  he  mentions  to  their  credit,  did  not 
permit  to  influence  disadvantageously  their  reception  of  him 
— may  well  have  been  his  habitual  malady — his  "  thorn  in  the 
flesh,"  perhaps  in  its  most  aggravated  intensity. 

This  therefore  may  seem  the  proper  place  to-make  some  in- 
quiry into  the  nature  of  that  infirmity. 

His  own  account  of  its  origin  is  that,  at  the  time  to  which 
he  refers,  he  was  favored  with  extraordinary  revelations  of  the 
divine  glory,  producing  the  most  exalting  spiritual  rapture, 
which  might  have  been  injurious  to  the  sobriety  of  his  mind, 
had  he  not  at  the  same  time  been  visited  with  this  infirmity, 
which,  by  distressingly  realizing  to  him  the  sense  of  his  hu- 
man weakness,  kept  the  balance  of  his  mind  in  due  poise. 
He  did  not  recognize  at  first  this  use  of  his  affliction,  and  he 
prayed  earnestly  for  its  removal.  But  his  supplication  was  not 
granted ;  and  the  reason  for  its  refusal  was  graciously  given  to 
him,  in  the  ever-memorable  words  : — "  My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee  :  for  my  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness."     He 


A    THORN    IN    THE    FLESH.  £21 

might  not  desire  to  be  freed  from  that  infirmity  wliicL,  by 
deepening  the  sense  of  human  weakness,  made  him  not  only 
more  consciously  dependent  upon  that  power  which  was  suf- 
ficient to  sustain  him  in  all  trial,  and  strengthen  him  in  all 
conflict,  but  which  would,  indeed,  by  the  visible  weakness  of 
the  instrument,  magnify  the  power  that  wrought  mightily 
through  him,  by  evincing  that  it  was  of  God. 

"Was  Paul  satisfied  with  this  ?  He  was  more  than  satisfied. 
He  rejoiced ;  he  exulted  ;  and,  proceeding  to  report  the  matter 
to  those  who  had  heard  his  "  bodily  presence  "  described  as 
"  weak,  and  his  speech  contemptible,"  while  it  was  admitted, 
that  "  his  letters  were  weighty  and  powerful  " — he  goes  on  to 
say  : — "  Most  gladly,  therefore,  will  I  rather  glory  in  my  in- 
firmities, that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me."  And, 
proceeding  with  accumulated  intensity  of  emphasis,  he  adds — 
"  Therefore  I  take  pleasure  in  infirmities,"  etc.  "  for  when  I  am 
weak,  then  am  I  strong." 

We  refrain  with  difficulty  from  enforcing  the  reflections 
these  sublime  declarations  suggest,  to  ask  what  was  the  nature 
of  this  infirmity,  which  is  so  frequently  brought  under  our 
notice  ? 

The  best  solution  can  be  but  the  most  probable  conjecture. 
Many  are  the  conjectures  which  have  been  offered ;  but  all  of 
them  agree  in  this,  that  whether  or  not  this  infliction  involved 
actual  physical  pain,  it  detracted  from  the  dignity  of  his  per- 
sonal appearance,  exposed  him  to  humiliations  and  difficulties, 
and  might  seem  calculated  to  impede  his  usefulness.  Answer- 
ing to  these  conditions,  it  does  not  seem  to  us,  that  anything 
has  been  suggested,  which  has  so  much  internal  evidence  in 
its  favor,  as  that  it  was  some  affection  of  the  eyes,  whereby 
his  vision  was  much  impaired — perhaps  more  so  at  one  time 
than  at  another. 

Allusions  to  the  value  of  sight,  and  the  preciousness  of  the 
eyes,  are  too  common  to  allow  much  stress  to  be  laid  upon  the 
text  which  has  given  occasion  to  these  remarks.  But  certain- 
ly, the  very  forcible  expression,  "  Ye  would  have  plucked  out 
your  own  eyes  and  given  them  to  me,"  would  acquire  deeper 

14* 


322  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

emphasis  in  the  mouth  of  one  whose  own  vision  was  imper- 
fect ;  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  be  able  to  read  it  with 
this  meaning — That  such  was  the  intensity  of  regard  with 
which  they  received  him,  that,  perceiving  his  infirmity  of  vis- 
ion, they  would  gladly,  if  it  had  been  possible,  have  repaired 
the  defect,  by  giving  their  own  eyes  to  him. 

Again,  towards  the  close  of  this  epistle,  the  apostle  says  to 
the  Galatians — "  You  see  how  large  a  letter  I  have  written  with 
my  own  hand."  The  word  rendered  letter,  is  not  that  which 
expresses  an  epistle,  but  one  that  denotes  handivriting ;  and  it 
is  very  generally  agreed,  that  it  refers  to  the  size,  and  perhaps 
comparative  rudeness  of  the  characters  in  which  he  (contrary 
to  his  usual  practice)  had  written  this  epistle  with  his  own 
hand,  or  at  least  the  closing  part  of  it.  Having  done  this,  he 
would  naturally  point  to  the  labor  he  had  thus  undertaken,  as 
a  proof  of  special  interest  and  regard.  The  fact  of  imperfect 
vision  would  explain  this  much  better  than  the  usual  hypothe- 
sis that,  being  accustomed  to  write  Hebrew,  he  could  not  very 
easily  write  the  Greek,  but  in  large  and  crude  characters — a 
supposition  to  which  we  see  very  considerable  objection.  Im- 
perfect vision  also  explains  much  more  satisfactorily  than  this, 
the  undoubted  fact  that  Paul  almost  invariably  wrote  his  epis- 
tles by  the  hand  of  others.  This  practice  of  his  was  known 
to  all  those  he  addressed,  as  we  should  expect  in  the  case  of  a 
person  laboring  under  defective  vision. 

We  know  that  Paul  was  blind  for  three  days  at  Damascus  ; 
and,  as  we  hinted  in  considering  that  event,  it  may  be  doubt- 
ed whether  his  sight  was  ever  perfectly  restored.  It  is  true, 
that  he  seems  to  fix  the  commencement  of  his  infirmity  to  a 
date  some  years  later ;  but  it  may  be  merely,  that  this  affec- 
tion of  his  eyes  then  became  more  intense  than  it  ever  had 
been  before ;  or,  still  more  probably,  that  this  contrasting  dis- 
qualification became  more  burdensome  to  him  in  his  state  of 
spiritual  exaltation,  and  he  was  then  excited  to  pray  for  its  re- 
moval. 

It  further  appears  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
Epistles,  that  Paul  was  almost  never  alone,  and  never  appears, 


LUKE.  323 

after  the  date  indicated,  to  have  taken  the  shortest  journey  by 
himself.  He  seems  to  have  been  always  in  the  hands,  and  al- 
ways under  the  inspection  (if  we  may  so  speak)  of  his  friends 
and  followers ;  and  we  find  him  continually  attended  from 
place  to  place  by  parties  of  his  hearers  and  disciples,  and  he 
seems  always  to  count  upon  and  wish  for  such  attendance.  All 
this  becomes  exceeding  natural  in  the  case  of  a  person  rendered 
much  dependent  upon  the  kind  attention  of  friends,  by  bodily 
infirmities  of  any  kind — but  especially  by  partial  blindness. 

All  this,  taken  separately,  does  not  perhaps  amount  to  much 
in  the  way  of  proof  or  evidence ;  but  taken  together,  it  is  more 
than  can  be  advanced  in  favor  of  any  other  suggestion  which 
has  been  offered. 


FORTY-NINTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

LUKE. ACTS    XVI.    11. 

The  western  portion  of  Asia  Minor,  confronting  the  ^Egean 
Sea,  was  composed  of  the  three  provinces  of  Mysia,  Lydia, 
and  Caria.  The  former  was  the  northernmost  of  the  three, 
and  the  other  two  were  comprised  together  under  the  desig- 
nation of  "  Asia,"  that  is,  Asia  Proper,  or  at  least  popular. 
This  is  at  least  the  "  Asia  "  of  the  apostolic  history,  but  is  not 
co-extensive  with  the  Roman  proconsular  province  of  that 
name,  for  that  included  Phrygia  and  Mysia,  which  the  sacred 
writer  distinguishes  from  it.  As  thus  limited,  "  Asia  "  has  the 
same  geographical  relation  to  Asia-Minor,  which  Portugal  has 
to  Spain ;  and  Mysia  has  the  same  relation  to  this  "  Asia,"  as 
that  portion  of  western  coast  belonging  to  Spain,  being  the 
province  of  Gallicia,  has  to  Portugal,  which  it  overlaps. 

This  territory  comprised  at  a  later  period  "  the  seven 
churches  that  are  in  Asia."  It  was  at  first  the  intention  of 
Paul  and  Silas  to  turn  their  steps  south-westwards  into  this 
region,  and  preach  the  Gospel  in  its  many  rich  and  populous 
cities.     But  they  learned,  perhaps  by  direct  revelation,  that  it 


324  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

was  not  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  that  th*y  should  as  yet  labor 
in  this  field,  probably  because  other  fields  were  more  ripe  for 
the  harvest.  They  therefore  turned  their  faces  northward,  to 
go  into  Bithynia.  But  here  also  "  the  Spirit  suffered  them  not." 
By  this  time  it  must  have  been  guessed,  if  not  distinctly  inti- 
mated, that  Europe  was  to  be  their  destination;  and  they 
therefore  proceeded  westward  through  Mysia,  and  reaching 
the  coast  at  Troas,  awaited  there  for  more  distinct  intimations 
of  the  divine  will.  In  Troas  was  preserved  the  name  of  old 
Troy,  the  site  of  which  lay  about  fifteen  miles  to  the  north  : 
and  now,  in  their  march  for  spiritual  conquests,  the  apostolical 
party  were  upon  the  theatre  of  a  strife  which  the  genius  of 
poetry  has  made  the  source  of  a  far-spread  and  long-enduring 
education  in  images  of  blood,  and  pride,  and  passion — very 
different  from  those  doctrines  of  peace,  and  love,  and  self- 
negation,  which,  from  this  same  point,  Paul  and  Silas  stand 
ready  to  bear  away  to  the  nations  of  the  west. 

Troas,  or  more  fully  Alexandria  Troas,  was  intended  as  a 
sort  of  memorial  of  ancient  Troy,  and  received  its  name  and 
origin  from  the  successors  of  Alexander.  It  was  favored  by 
the  Romans,  who  liked  to  trace  their  origin  to  the  Trojans  : 
but  it  had  not  at  this  time  acquired  that  importance  which  it 
at  length  attained ;  and  it  is  probable  that  few  of  the  ruins 
which,  now  embowered  in  a  thick  wood  of  oaks,  attest  that 
importance,  belong  to  buildings  that  had  any  existence  when 
Paul  was  there.  Still  it  was  a  considerable  and  prosperous 
place,  and  had  a  good  harbor,  the  resort  of  vessels  arriving 
from  or  departing  for  the  coasts  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 
That  Paul  went  to  this  place  may  therefore  indicate  that  he 
expected  that  he  should  have  to  take  up  a  passage  here,  though 
he  knew  not  yet  precisely  for  what  quarter.  This  reminds 
one  of  the  case  of  Abraham,  who  went  forth  not  knowing,  till 
after  he  had  set  forth,  whither  he  was  to  go.  But  the  apostle 
was  not  long  left  in  any  doubt  of  his  destination.  In  visions 
of  the  night  he  beheld  a  man  whom,  from  his  garb,  and  per- 
haps from  his  dialect,  he  knew  to  be  a  Macedonian,  draw  near 
to  him,  and  standing  before  him  in  an  attitude  of  entreaty, 


LUKE.  325 

implore  him  to  come  to  the  aid  of  his  countrymen,  in  words 
simple  and  few,  but  deeply  emphatic  in  their  earnestness, — 
"  Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us."  Paul  knew 
how  to  interpret  this  summons,  and  we  may  be  sure  it  was 
most  promptly  obeyed.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  next 
morning  saw  the  friends  down  at  the  harbor  among  the  ship- 
ping, inquiring  for  the  vessel  that  was  soonest  to  sail  for 
Europe.  But  before  their  departure  an  addition  was  made  to 
their  number  in  the  person  of  the  author  of  the  apostolic  his- 
tory, Luke,  "  the  beloved  physician,"  who  at  this  point  indi 
cates  his  presence  with  the  party,  not  only  by  quietly  exchang- 
ing the  third  person  for  the  first  in  his  narrative,  but  by  a 
transition  from  the  historical  to  the  autoptical  style  of  narra- 
tion, as  shown  in  the  much  fuller  statement  of  details. 

Luke  had  probably  known  Paul  before  at  Antioch,  of  which 
place  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  native,  and  where  he 
seems  to  have  been  early  converted,  perhaps  by  Paul  himself. 
Whether  he  had  come  over  direct  from  Gentilism,  or  had  in- 
termediately passed  through  Judaism  as  a  proselyte,  does  not 
appear ;  but  it  is  clear  that  he  was  not  a  born  Jew,  as  Paul 
himself  distinguishes  him  in  Col.  iv.  14,  from  disciples  of 
Jewish  descent.  His  name  indeed  indicates  not  only  his  Gen- 
tile descent,  but  that  he  was  either  a  slave  or  a  freedman. 
That  name  Lucas  is  a  contraction  of  Lucanus ;  and  in  this 
contracted  form  it  frequently  occurs  as  a  name  given  to  slaves. 
The  quality  of  Luke  as  a  physician  strengthens  the  impression 
derived  from  his  name,  respecting  his  condition  as  a  freed- 
man. The  higher  ranks  of  Romans  were  averse  to  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  which  they  left  rather  to  their  freedmen. 
Many  of  these  were  highly  educated,  and  only  such  as  showed 
the  requisite  talent  were  trained  to  the  liberal  arts.  In  Luke, 
then,  we  behold  an  educated  and  well-informed  Greek,  versed 
in  the  medical  sciences.  That  he  was  also  a  painter  there  is 
no  evidence  to  show,  and  the  tradition  is  disregarded  by 
modern  writers,  although  there  are  extant  three  or  four  pic- 
tures ascribed  to  his  pencil.  All  that  we  can  with  any  con- 
fidence adduce  concerning  him,  therefore,  is,  that  although  a 


326  FORTY-NINTH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

Syro-Greek  by  birth,  lie  had  beeil'  a  slave  at  Rome,  where  he 
acquired  and  practised  for  the  benefit  of  his  owner  the  art  of 
medicine  ;  and  after  his  services  had  been  rewarded  with  free- 
dom, he  returned  to  his  native  city,  and  continued  there  the 
practice  of  his  profession. 

Whether  he  joined  Paul,  Silas,  and  Timothy,  at  Troas,  by 
pre-arrangement,  or  by  a  providential  meeting,  or  with  refer- 
ence to  Paul's  delicate  health,  cannot  be  said.  But  it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  the  friends  received  him  as  a  valuable  asso- 
ciate in  addition  to  their  party.  Luke's  medical  skill  might  be 
very  useful  to  gain  an  opening  for  publishing  the  Gospel  among 
the  Gentiles,  as  we  now  find  it  in  modern  missions  to  the 
heathen.  Even  the  gift  of  healing  would  not,  as  Neander  ob- 
serves, render  this  useless  ;  since  that  gift  was  applicable  only 
in  particular  cases,  where  its  possessors  were  prompted  to  em- 
ploy it  by  an  immmediate  divine  impulse  or  feeling  excited  in 
their  minds. 

We  shall  be  able  to  trace  Luke  as  the  companion  of  Paul 
through  most  of  the  remaining  history,  and  with  Paul  that 
history  leaves  him  at  Rome.  What  became  of  him  after  the 
apostle's  death  is  not  known,  and  the  traditionary  accounts  are 
not  only  of  little  intrinsic  value,  but  differ  in  every  point — as 
to  the  scene  of  his  labors,  and  as  to  the  place,  the  time,  and 
the  manner  of  his  death.  It  is,  however,  generally  understood 
that  he  was  of  mature  age  when  he  became  acquainted  with 
Paul,  and  that  he  survived  him  some  years,  dying  at  the  age 
of  eighty  or  eighty-four. 


FORTY-NINTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

PHILIPPI. ACTS   XVI.    11-12. 

The  voyagers  must  have  had  a  fair  wind,  for  the  same 
evening  they  reached  the  island  of  Samothracia,  and  seem  to 
have   anchored  for  the  night  under  fhe  sheite.    of  its  high 


PHILIPPI.  8fel 

shore ;  and  the  next  evening  brought  them  to  Neapolis.  Thus 
they  accomplished  in  two  days  a  voyage,  which  at  a  later 
period,  and  in  the  reverse  direction,  occupied  five  days.*  The 
Neapolis  of  Macedonia,  at  which  they  landed,  was  the  port  of 
Philippi,  and  is  now  represented  by  the  small  Turkish  village 
of  Cavallo.  Paul  and  his  party  tarried  not  there,  but  went  on 
to  Philippi,  which  had  thus  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
city  of  Europe  in  which  the  gospel  was  preached  by  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  We  use  this  limiting  phrase ;  because 
it  cannot  be  supposed  that,  after  so  many  years,  this  was  the 
first  time  that  the  glad  tidings  had  been  heard  in  any  European 
city.  We  cannot  doubt  that  ere  this  the  Gospel  had  been 
preached  at  least  in  Rome,  by  disciples  from  Jerusalem  and 
Antioch. 

The  original  name  of  Philippi  was  Dalhos ;  but  having  been 
repaired  and  embellished  by  Philip,  the  father  of  Alexander,  it 
acquired  from  him  its  later  name.  Its  historical  fame  is  how- 
ever Roman,  rather  than  Greek  ;  several  battles  having  been 
fought  there,  in  the  civil  wars  of  the  Romans — particularly 
that  decisive  one  between  Antony  and  Brutus ;  and  it  was 
here  that,  after  he  had  lost  that  battle,  the  latter  destroyed 
himself.  At  this  present  time  it  was,  the  sacred  historian  in- 
forms us,  "  the  chief  city  of  that  part  of  Macedonia,  and  a 
colony."  This  is  an  instance  of  that  minute  historical  accuracy 
in  the  author  of  the  Acts,  of  which  we  have  already  pointed 
out  many  instances,  and  which,  even  apart  from  its  claims  to 
inspiration,  affords  the  means  of  critically  establishing  its 
authority  as  an  historical  document.  It  is  indeed  disputed 
whether  the  text  should  be  understood  to  mean  as  translated 
above,  or  "  a  city  of  the  first  part  of  Macedonia,"  which  might 
seem  preferable,  were  it  not  that  it  exacts  a  slight  change  in 
the  original  text  {nqtirrj  to  tt^ojttjs),  which  no  manuscript 
sanctions.  Either  way  we  have  two  assertions,  the  truth  of 
which  is  amply  confirmed  from  history  and  from  coins,  that 
Macedonia  was  divided  into  parts,  and  that  Philippi  was  "  a 
colony  ;"  the  altered  translation  merely  makes  the  part  of 
*  Compare  Acts  xvi.  11-12,  withxx.  6. 


328  FORTl-NINTH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

Macedonia,  in  which  Philippi  stood,  the  first  of  the  "  parts " 
into  which  it  was  divided,  or  Macedonia  Prima,  and  such  we 
know  that  it  was ;  the  fact  of  its  being  the  "  chief  city " — 
though  it  disappears  from  this  rendering,  is  conveyed  in  the 
fact  of  its  being  a  "  colony" — for  a  city  that  was  "  a  colony  " 
must  needs  have  been  the  chief  city  (urbis  primaria)  of  any 
"  part "  of  Macedonia  in  which  it  stood. 

Livy  gives  a  particular  account  of  the  division  of  Macedonia 
into  four  parts  or  regions,  by  the  consul  L.  Emilius  Paulus, 
who,  in  the  year  168  b.  c,  reduced  the  country  to  the  yoke 
of  Rome.*  Accordingly,  there  are  extant  coins  of  all  these 
parts  or  provinces,  except  the  third  ;  and  those  of  the  first  are 
remarkably  abundant.  These  coins  bear  on  their  obverse  the 
heads  of  different  deities,  and  on  their  reverse  different  sym- 
bols, with  the  inscription— MJKEAONSIN  IIPOTH2— 
(money)  of  the  Macedonians  of  the  first  province.  A  Roman 
colony  was  a  settlement  of  Roman — that  is  Italian — citizens 
and  soldiers,  but  chiefly  soldiers,  in  some  cities  of  a  conquered 


country,  with  the  view  of  maintaining  and  consolidating  the 
Roman  authority  and  influence  in  the  country.  These  colonies 
enjoyed  very  high  municipal  privileges  and  exemptions,  and 
were  so  many  lesser  Romes,  centres  of  Latin  population  in 
foreign  lands.  That  a  town  was  a  colony,  was  therefore  a  dis- 
tinction fit  to  be  mentioned  ;  and  that  Philippi  was  such,  as 
Luke  states,  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  there  are  colonial  coins 
of  Philippi,  from  Augustus  to  Caracalla,  and  which  show  that 
the  full  Roman  name  of  the  place  was  Colonia  Augusta  Juli? 
*  Liv.  Hist.  xl.  ch.  29. 


philippi.  329 

Philippeusis;  One  of  the  series  is  contemporary  with  the  visit 
of  Paul,  being  of  the  reign  of  Claudius,  whose  head  appears 
on  the  obverse.  On  the  reverse,  which 
we  offer,  is  the  colonial  inscription,  with 
the  genius  of  the  city  placing  a  garland 
on  the  emperor's  head.  The  Latin  inscrip- 
tion points  to  the  same  fact — those  on  the 
coins  of  other  towns,  not  colonies,  in  the 
Eastern  Empire  of  Rome,  being  in  Greek. 

In  these  colonies  all  the  insignia  of 
distinctively  Roman  power,  were  more  conspicuously  displayed^ 
than  in  other  towns  of  the  same  province ;  and  Paul,  as  he 
trod  the  streets  of  Philippi,  could  not  fail  to  call  to  mind,  that 
he  was  a  Roman  citizen.  Tndeed,  by  recollecting  the  pre- 
dominantly Roman  character  of  the  place,  some  of  the  inci- 
dents that  occurred  at  Philippi  will  be  the  better  understood. 

It  appears,  from  the  existing  remains,  that  Philippi  occu- 
pied a  fertile  plain  between  two  ridges  of  mountains.  The 
Acropolis  is  upon  a  mount,  standing  out  into  this  plain,  from 
the  north-east,  and  the  city  seems  to  have  extended  from  the 
base  of  it,  for  some  distance  to  the  south  and  south-west.  The 
remains  of  the  fortress,  upon  the  top,  consist  of  three  ruined 
towers,  and  considerable  portions  of  walls  of  stone,  brick,  and 
very  hard  mortar.  The  plain  between  exhibits  nothing  but 
ruins,  or  heaps  of  stone  and  rubbish,  overgrown  with  thorns 
and  briars ;  but  nothing  is  now  seen  of  the  numerous  busts 
and  statues,  and  thousands  of  columns,  and  vast  masses  of 
classic  ruins,  of  which  earlier  travellers  speak.  Ruins  of  pri- 
vate buildings  are  still  discernible ;  also  something  of  a  semi- 
circular shape,  probably  a  forum  or  market-place — perhaps 
the  one  in  which  Paul  and  Silas  received  their  undeserved 
stripes.  The  most  prominent  among  the  ruins  are  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  palace,  the  architecture  of  which  is  grand,  and 
the  materials  costly.  The  pilasters,  chapiters,  etc.,  are  of  the 
finest  white  marble,  and  the  walls  were  formerly  encased  in 
the  same  stone — but  have  gradually  been  knocked  down  by 
the  Turks,  to  furnish  materials  for  their  preposterous  grave- 


330  FORTY-NINTH   WEEK — SATURDAY. 

stones.  A  large  portion  of  the  ruins  are  said  to  be  covered 
with  stagnant  water.  We  owe  these  particulars  to  the  journal 
of  the  American  missionaries,  Dwight  and  Schauffler,*  who 
state  : — "  We  stopped  about  three  hours  among  these  interest- 
ing remains.  What  enthusiasm  would  have  seized  us  if  we 
had  discovered  the  prison  of  Paul  and  Silas  (if  such  a  thing 
were  possible),  and  the  dwelling  of  the  happy  '  deafiocpvXaZ,'' 
or  '  keeper  of  the  prison?  Gladly  would  we  have  given  up  the 
privilege  of  seeing  and  copying  the  s])lendid  remains  of  the 
palace,  and  all  the  old  walls  and  towers  of  the  Acropolis, 
where  Paul  never  set  his  foot.  But  so  it  is ;  we  could  see  but 
little  of  the  whole,  and  examine  still  less  ;  and  what  remains 
of  this  cradle  of  Christianity  in  Europe  is  exceedingly  dis- 
figured." One  of  these  travellers  realized  what  must  have 
been  Paul's  first  view  of  the  city,  coming,  as  he  did,  by  the 
road  from  Neapolis.  There  is  a  Roman  road  direct  from 
Neapolis,  paved  throughout,  and  cut  through  the  least  pass- 
able part  of  a  moderate  swell  of  mountains; — "When  we 
arrived  at  the  top  of  the  mountain,  the  place  where  Paul  must 
have  had  the  first  glance  of  that  plain  and  city,  where  he  was 
to  open  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  on  European  ground,  I 
turned  round  to  see  what  impression  the  spectacle  might  have 
made  upon  him,  and  truly  a  more  inspiring  prospect  cannot 
well  be  fancied.  The  road  is  broad  enough,  and  the  hill  so 
widening  towards  the  plain,  that  a  very  large  and  rich  part 
of  the  latter  becomes  visible  at  once  ;  and  the  direction  of  the 
road  is  such,  as  to  throw  the  hill  projecting,  with  the  Acropolis 
on  its  summit,  and  the  city  of  Philippi  at  its  base,  right  into 
the  centre  of  the  picture.  ...  I  have  no  doubt  that  Paul, 
and  his  little  missionary  band,  stopped  here  with  wonder  and 
delight,  and  looked  down  into  the  plain  with  anticipations  of 
absorbing  interest.  It  may  be  they  sat  down  upon  some  of 
these  rocks  to  rest  themselves,  after  the  wearisome  mountain 
was  gained,  and  to  strengthen  each  other  in  the  Lord,  by  pious 

*  Printed  in  the  American  Missionary  Herald,  for  September,  1836, 
where  two  original  views  are  given — one  a  general  view,  and  the  other 
a  rough  representation  of  the  so-called  "  palace." 


LYDIA.  331 

conversation,  and  by  the  repetition  of  many  a  precious  prom- 
ise respecting  the  conversion  of  the  whole  world,  and  the 
eventual  universality  of  Christ's  kingdom.  It  may  be  that 
they  withdrew  a  little  into  a  solitary  place  among  these  woods, 
to  join  in  prayer  for  yonder  Philippi,  for  all  Macedonia,  and 
for  a  fallen  world." 


iritnetl)  tikek— 0mtira£. 

LYDIA. ACTS   XVI.    13-15. 

There  was  of  course  a  good  proportion  of  Greeks  along 
with  the  Latin  population  of  Philippi.  A  military  and  un- 
commercial town,  however,  had  little  attraction  for  Jews,  and 
they  were  consequently  few  in  number  at  Philippi.  But  they 
seem  to  have  had  outside  the  town,  among  the  trees,  upon 
the  banks  of  the  river  Strymon,  a  small  place  for  prayer,  such 
as  were  used  in  the  absence  of  synagogues  and  such  as  we 
still  find  in  use  among  the  Moslems.     Or  it  may  be,  that  the 


meeting  was  in  the  open  air,  the  vicinity  of  the  river  being 
chosen  perphaps  merely  as  offering  a  secluded  spot,  or  possibly 
from  the  ideas  of  purity  which  the  Jews  associated  with  the 
presence  of  running  water,  or  even  for  facilities  of  ablution, 
as  might  at  this  day  happen  among  the  Mohammedans.     It  is 


332  FIFTIETH    WEEK SUNDAY. 

rare  at  the  present  day  to  witness  worship,  by  a  number  of 
persons,  under  such  circumstances,  as  they  usually  find  other 
facilities  for  ablution  ;  but  it  happened  to  us,  that  the  first  acts 
of  Moslem  worship  we  ever  witnessed,  were  thus  performed. 
This  was  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  in  the  Caucasian 
Mountains,  at  the  time  when  many  Turkish  prisoners  of  war 
were  kept  there  by  the  Russians.  Bodies  of  these  were  con- 
ducted out,  at  the  hours  of  prayer,  under  a  guard  of  soldiers, 
to  any  open  place  traversed  by  a  river,  near  the  military  sta- 
tions, and  after  performing  their  ablution  in  the  stream,  they 
prostrated  themselves  upon  the  green  sward,  and  went  through 
the  several  acts  of  their  remarkably  demonstrative  worship. 

Having  learned  at  what  place,  upon  the  river's  brink,  the 
Jews  of  Philippi  were  wont  to  assemble  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
Paul  and  his  companions  repaired  thither  on  the  first  Sabbath 
after  their  arrival.  The  congregation  was  found  to  be  com- 
posed chiefly  of  females,  perhaps  from  the  husbands  having 
become  remiss  in  the  absence  of  a  synagogue,  or  as  likely 
from  many  of  the  women  being  wives  of  Gentile  husbands — 
that  is,  Gentile  women  who  had  been  proselyted  to  Judaism, 
or  Jewish  women  married  to  Gentile  husbands.  The  friends 
sat  down  here,  and  Paul  proceeded  to  speak  to  these  women 
of  the  things  of  Christ.  There  was  among  them  one  at 
least  whose  "  heart  the  Lord  opened ;"  and  being  opened,  it 
drank  in  with  eager  gladness  the  tidings  of  a  crucified  and 
risen  Saviour,  which  she  then  for  the  first  time  heard.  She 
was  converted ;  and  after  she  and  her  household  had  been 
baptized,  she  invited  the  party  to  become  her  guests;  and 
she  overcame  their  reluctance,  by  the  cordial  urgency  of  her 
entreaties.  The  name  of  this  woman  was  Lydia  ;  she  did  not 
belong  to  this  place,  but  had  come  from  Thyatira,  which  after- 
wards became  the  seat  of  one  of  "  the  seven  churches  that  are 
in  Asia,"  to  which  He  "  who  liveth,  but  was  dead,"  sent  one 
of  the  apocalyptic  messages.  We  are  told  that  she  was  "  a 
seller  of  purple  ;"  either  dyeing  cloths  with  that  highly  -prized 
color,  or  selling  cloth  so  dyed.  And  here,  once  more,  we  may 
direct  attention  to  an  instance  of  Luke's  minute  accuracy,  in 


LTDIA.  333 

the  fact,  that  her  native  Thyatira  was  a  place  noted  for  its  dye- 
ing business.  An  inscription  has  been  found  there,  which  pur- 
ports to  have  been  originally  set  up  by  the  guild  of  dyers,  in 
honor  of  Antonius  Claudius  Alphenus,  a  distinguished  man 
of  the  reign  of  Caracalla.  It  is  less  known  that  the  city  of 
Thyatira  is  still  thus  distinguished.  But  we  are  assured  of 
this  fact,  by  Sir  Emerson  Tennant,  who,  in  his  Letters  from 
the  JEgean,  says — "  In  answers  to  inquiries  on  the  subject, 
that  the  cloths  which  are  died  scarlet  here,*  are  considered 
superior  to  any  others  furnished  by  Asia-Minor,  and  that  rarge 
quantities  are  sent  weekly  to  Smyrna,  for  the  purposes  of  com- 
merce." 

There  are  some  matters  for  reflection,  which,  although  they 
lie  on  the  surface  of  Lydia's  history,  are  not  the  less  entitled 
to  our  attention. 

We  may  first  observe  the  very  remarkable  providence  of 
God,  in  regard  to  this  woman.  She  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
native  of,  and  probably  had  been  long  a  resident  in  a  city  of 
that  very  region  in  which  Paul  had  been  forbidden  to  preach 
the  Gospel.  But  in  the  course  of  worldly  business,  she  is 
brought  to  the  strange  city  of  Philippi,  and  there  she  hears, 
from  that  same  Paul,  the  word  of  life.  The  providence  of 
God,  as  it  always  appoints,  so  it  often  removes  the  bounds  of 
our  habitation,  and  not  seldom  makes  the  change  of  our  out- 
ward condition  or  place  of  abode,  materially  subservient  to 
the  designs  of  his  grace  respecting  our  salvation. 

That  the  heart  of  Lydia  was  "  opened,"  intimates  that  it 
had  till  then  been  shut,  Nor  was  this  any  singular  or  pecu- 
liar case.  The  human  heart  is  naturally  shut  against  gospel 
truth,  by  spiritual  blindness  and  carnal  affections.  The  nat- 
ural mind  is  incapable  of  perceiving  its  excellence,  and  in- 
stinctively recoils  from  it,  because  its  doctrines  are  humbling 
to  pride,  and  its  requirements  involve  the  sacrifice  of  many 
of  man's  cherished  principles  of  action,  and  many  objects  of 
his  ambition  and  desire.  External  means  are  wholly  insuf 
ficient  to  overcome  these  obstacles  to  a  cordial  reception  of 
*  The  purple  of  Scripture  was  a  kind  of  scarlet 


334  FIFTIETH    WEEK — SUNDAY. 

the  Gospel.  We  may  describe  colors  with  great  exactness  to 
the  blind,  or  we  may  define  sounds  with  great  precision  tc 
the  deaf;  but  information  can  impart  no  distinct  ideas,  for 
want  of  the  seeing  eye  or  the  hearing  ear. 

The  opening  of  Lydia's  heart  was  her  Lord's  doing.  What- 
ever is  done  in  Heaven's  great  work  with  the  soul  of  man,  is  the 
Lord's  own  work.  We  do  not  know  that  any  hand  but  His 
can  even  touch  the  heart ;  and  sure  we  are,  that  none  but  He 
can  open  the  heart,  and,  being  opened,  can  cleanse  it,  fill  it, 
satisfy  it.  He  opens  not  only  the  receptive  organ — the  heart 
— but  He  opens  even  the  perceptive  organs — He  opens  the 
ear,  He  opens  the  eye,  He  enlightens  the  understanding,  He 
changes  the  heart,  He  makes  us  willing,  He  fulfils  in  us  all  the 
good  pleasure  of  his  goodness,  and  the  work  of  faith  with  power. 
All  is  of  him  ;  and  every  one  who  has  in  any  age  been  savingly 
drawn  to  Christ,  will  rejoice  to  give  God  the  undivided  glory 
of  every  onward  step  in  that  great  work — the  conversion  of 
a  ruined  soul.  He  who  begins  the  good  work  in  any  of  us, 
is  He  who  will  also  perform  it — until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

But  while  we  see  that  the  opening  of  Lydia's  heart,  was  not 
Lydia's  own  work,  nor  Paul's  work,  but  the  work  of  the  Lord 
— we  feel  no  surprise  that  He  should  distinguish  this  woman 
by  His  blessing.  "  It  is  in  agreement  with  his  usual  ordinance, 
that  they  who  seek  shall  find.  For  observe  her  conduct,  she 
was  but  a  sojourner  in  Philippi,  come  hither  as  a  seller  of  purple 
cloth,  for  which  her  part  of  Asia  was  famous.  But  she  had 
not,  when  she  left  her  home,  left  her  religion  behind  her.  She 
had  sought  out  those  who  had  worshipped  God,  and  had  gone 
with  them  to  the  place  of  prayer.  Neither  was  she  so  en- 
grossed with  worldly  affairs  as  to  neglect  all  other  things. 
She  was  not  in  Jerusalem  or  in  Judea,  where  the  Sabbath 
would  be  observed  by  all ;  but  she  was  in  a  heathen  city, 
where  it  would  be  observed  by  none  but  Jewish  residents. 
She  might  therefore  have  carried  on  her  trade,  and  sold  her 
purple  cloth ;  but  she  had  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of 
that  God,  who,  when  He  made  the  world,  blessed  the  Sabbath- 
day,  and  hallowed  it ;  and  therefore  we  find  her  not  in  the 


THE    PYTHONESS.  335 

market,  nor  offering  her  purple  to  the  passers  by ;  but  joining 
a  party  which  had  gone  out  of  the  city,  by  a  river  side,  where 
prayer  was  wont  to  be  made."* 


FIFTIETH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE  PYTHONESS. ACTS  XVI.  16-19. 

Paul  and  his  associates  seem  during  their  stay  in  Philippi 
to  have  frequented  the  place  of  prayer  beside  the  river  very 
constantly.  On  the  way  thither  from  Lydia's  house,  where  they 
lodged,  they  were  followed  by  a  "certain  damsel  possessed 
with  a  spirit  of  divination,"  who,  in  the  excited  manner  of  her 
sort  when  under  what  was  regarded  as  their  inspiration,  kept 
ciying  out,  "  These  men  are  the  servants  of  the  most  high  God, 
who  show  unto  us  the  way  of  salvation."  But  Paul  did  not 
like  to  have  attention  called  to  them  in  this  manner,  or  to  re- 
ceive even  a  true  testimony  from  a  source  so  suspicious,  and 
on  which  damaging  misconceptions  might  be  founded.  He 
was,  besides,  wearied  out  with  this  continual  interruption  ;  and 
from  all  these  causes,  as  well,  probably,  from  compassion  for 
the  girl's  state,  and  to  show  the  dominion  which  his  Lord  ex- 
ercised over  all  the  powers  of  darkness,  he  commanded  the 
spirit,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  depart  from  her.  The 
spirit  left  her  immediately ;  and,  being  restored  to  her  right 
mind,  she  no  longer  conceived  herself  possessed  of  prophetic 
gifts. 

It  has  been  much  questioned  what  was  the  nature  of  this 
"  spirit  of  divination  "  which  possessed  her.  In  the  original 
it  is  called  "  a  spirit  of  Python."  We  shall  therefore  endeav- 
or to  ascertain  what  this  form  of  possession  distinctively  was, 
without  entering  here  into  general  inquiries  as  to  the   nature 

*  Practical  Exposition  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  by  John  Bird 
Sumner,  D.  D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Chester  [now  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury.]    London,  1838. 


336 


FIFTIETH    WEEK MONDAY. 


of  possession,  or  as  to  forms  and  species  of  divination,  merely 
referring  to  what  has  been  lately  stated  as  to  the  prevalence  of 
multiplied  forms  of  divination  in  this  age. 

Python  was  a  name  of  Apollo ;  and  as  the  Pythian  Apollo, 
the  chief  seat  of  his  worship  was  at  Delphi,  and  his  oracle 
there  was  the  most  famous  in  the  world,  and  the  las1;that  lost 
its  credit.  At  this  place  was  the  famous  tripod,  seated  on 
which  over  an  opening  to  a  cavern  below,  the  priestess  became 
inspired,  and  delivered  responses  and  prophecies.  The  tripod, 
when  not  in  use,  was  elevated  upon  an  altar  in  the  shape  of 
a  pillar,  as  represented  in  the  engraving,  where  also  a  priest 
and  priestess  of  Pythian  Apollo  are  seen.*  The  Delphic 
priestess  was  the  proper  Pythia,  as  receiving  the  inspiration 


of  the  Pythian  Apollo  in  the  highest  and  most  orthodox  form. 
But  the  Pythian  inspiration  was  not  supposed  to  be  limited  to 
this  form,  to  the  Delphic  priestesses,  nor  to  Delphi.  Cassan- 
dra was  inspired  by  Apollo  apart  from  any  of  these  conditions ; 
and  it  occurs  to  us  that  it  may  be  far  the  best  course  to  glance 
through  her  case,  as  represented  (in  the  Agamemnon  of  JE&- 
chylus)  in  an  age  in  which  this  species  of  inspiration  was  fully 
credited,  in  order  to  learn  the  nature  of  this  delusive  inspira- 

*  From  one  of  the  sculptured  faces  of  au  ancient  trilateral  pedestal ; 
copied  from  Creuzer's  Symbolik,  plate  lxxv.,  fig.  280,  a.  The  well- 
kuowu  Apollo  Belvidere  represents  the  Pythian  Apollo. 


THE    PYTHONESS.  33*7 

tion  in  an  instance  which,  like  the  one  before  us,  is  not  involv- 
ed in  Delphic  rites.  The  peculiarity  in  the  case  of  Cassandra 
was  not  in  the  aspects  of  her  possession,  but  in  the  doom  that 
her  true  prophecies  should  not  be  believed. 

Cassandra  is  not  always  in  this  state  of  possession,  but  the 
spirit  takes  possession  of  her  for  a  time,  and,  when  the  occa- 
sion occurs,  with  painful  force  and  constraining  violence,  ex- 
torting agonizing  cries : — 

"0!  O!  hu!  hu!  alas! 
The  pains  again  have  seized  me  !  my  brain  turns ! 
Hark  to  the  alarum  and  prophetic  cries ! 
The  dizziness  of  horror  swims  my  head  !"* 

Again : — 

"  0  -what  a  mighty  fire  comes  rolling  on  me ! 
Help!  help!  Lycean  Apollo !  Ah  me  !  ah  me!" 

The  future  which  she  foretells  seems  to  her  a  visionary  pres- 
ent, while  yet  known  to  be  and  declared  to  be  a  future.  So 
thus  Cassandra  sees  and  proclaims  the  future  coming  of  Ores- 
tes, which  did  not  happen  till  eight  years  after  her  own 
death : — 

"  Who's  at  the  gates  ?  a  young  man,  fair  and  tall, 
A  stranger  by  his  garb,  from  foreign  parts  ; 
Or  one  who  long  since  has  been  exiled  here  : 
A  stripling,  murderer  of  his  mother's  breast ! 
Brave  youth,  avenger  of  his  father's  death  ! 
He'll  come  to  build  the  high-wrought  architrave, 
Surmounting  all  the  horrors  of  the  dome. 
I  say,  the  gods  have  sworn  that  he  shall  come." 

In  like  manner  she  sees  her  own  death  represented  to  her 
before  it  occurs.  But  besides  this,  she,  as  in  what  is  called 
second  sight,  or  in  the  alleged  visions  of  the  mesmeric  trance, 
beholds  and  describes,  at  the  time  then  present,  what  is  trans- 
acting elsewhere.     Thus  she  sees  and  describes,  while  she  is 

*  All  the  extracts  are  from  the  translation  of  the  Agamemnon,  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Symmons  in  1824. 
vol..   iv.  15 


338  FIFTIETH    WEEK MONDAY. 

without,  the  murder  taking  place  in  the  palace  of  Agamemnon, 
through  every  step  of  its  progress : — 

"Alas !  ah  wretch !  ah !  what  art  thou  about  ? 
A  man's  in  the  bath — beside  him  there  stands 
One  wrapping  him  round — the  bathing  clothes  drop, 
Like  shrouds  they  appear  to  me,  dabbled  in  blood ! 
O  for  to  see  what  stands  there  at  the  end ! 
Yet  'twill  be  quick — 'tis  now  upon  the  stroke ! 
A  hand  is  stretched  out — and  another  too ! 
As  though  it  were  a-grasping — look,  look,  look !" 

As  a  prophetess  of  Apollo,  Cassandra  wears  a  distinctive 
dress,  although  a  slave,  that  is,  a  captive  of  the  sword.  So 
when  she  becomes  aware  that  Clytemnestra  is  designing  her 
death,  she  lets  us  know : — 


"  She  there,  that  two-legged  lioness 

"Will  kill  me !  woeful  creature  that  I  am ! 

0  why  then  keep  this  mockery  on  my  head  ? 
Off  with  ye,  laurels,  necklaces,  and  wands ! 
The  crown  of  the  prophetic  maiden's  gone. 

[Tearing  her  robes. 
Away,  away !  die  ye,  ere  yet  I  die ! 

1  will  requite  your  blessings  thus,  thus,  thus ! 
Find  out  some  other  maiden,  dight  her  rich, 
Ay,  dight  her  rich  in  miseries  like  me  ! 

And  lo !  Apollo,  himself,  tearing  off 
My  vest  oracular !     Oh,  cruel  god ! 
Thou  hast  beheld  me,  e'en  in  these  my  robes, 
Scoff  d  at  when  I  was  with  my  kinsmen  dear, 
And  made  my  enemies'  most  piteous  despite, 
And  many  a  bad  name  had  I  for  thy  sake ; 
A  Cybele's  mad  woman,  beggar  priestess, 
Despised,  unheeded,  beggared,  and  in  hunger  ; 
And  yet  I  bore  it  all  for  thy  sweet  sake." 

The  estimation  of  her  to  which  she  thus  painfully  alludes, 
indicates  the  existence,  even  thus  early,  of  a  lower  class  of 
soothsaying  women,  by  some  deemed  crazed,  by  others  re- 
garded as  impostors,  with  whose  claims  hers,  were  confounded. 


THE    PYTHONESS.  339 

Indeed,  at  times  she  inclines  to  doubt  whether  this  is  not  in- 
deed the  case  with  herself: — 

"  Or  rave  I,  dreaming  of  prophetic  lies, 
Like  some  poor  minstrel  knocking  at  the  doors  ?" 

The  same  estimate,  varying  somewhat,  appears  in  the  re 
marks  of  the  chorus  upon  her  impassioned  utterances : — 

"  God  dwells  within  her,  though  she  be  a  slave." 

Again : — 

"  "We  have  heard,  O  prophetess,  of  thy  great  name." 

And  further  on :  — 

"  0  sure  thou  art  one  of  a  deep-raging  soul, 
Driven  mad  by  a  god,  crying  out." 

And  still  more  pointed  : 

"  Tis  some  god  who  has  put  that  bad  spirit  in  my  mind, 
With  the  power  of  a  demon,  and  a  strong  heavy  spell." 

Yet  afterwards  the  chorus  admits  : 

"To  us  thy  words  seem  worthy  of  belief" 

We  are  thus  enabled  to  discern  that  contemporary  opinion 
was  nearly  as  varied  and  uncertain  with  regard  to  the  Pythian 
inspiration  as  is  our  own  ;  and  the  explanations  of  it  embrac 
ed  all  the  alternatives  which  different  commentators  have  ap- 
plied to  the  case  of  the  Pythoness  of  Philippi. 

She  also  was  a  slave,  for  it  is  stated  that  she  "  brought  her 
masters  much  gain  by  sooth-saying."  Anciently,  and  indeed 
at  present  in  the  countries  where  slavery  exists,  the  money 
value  of  a  slave  was  greatly  affected  by  the  profession  or  trade 
he  had  acquired,  by  the  accomplishments  he  had  been  taught, 
or  by  his  capacity  in  any  way  of  earning  money  for  his  master. 


340  FIFTIETH    WEEK — MONDAY. 

Some  possessed  such  qualities  that  when  they  fell  into  slavery 
(a  large  proportion  of  the  slaves  being  prisoners  of  war),  and 
some  acquired  them  in  slavery,  the  masters  being  watchful 
to  cultivate  for  their  own  profit  any  special  aptitudes  their 
slaves  manifested.  Hence  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans 
possessed  slaves  of  all  professions — not  only  men  bred  to  the 
various  mechanic  arts,  but  philosophers,  rhetoricians,  gram- 
marians, dramatists,  physicians.  Those  also  who  made  a 
trade  of  the  arts  of  divination,  were  watchful  after  individuals 
who  manifested  qualities,  aptitudes,  or  even  infirmities,  which 
might  prove  advantageous  to  them  in  their  business,  and 
sought  to  gain  possession  of  them  by  purchase  or  other- 
wise. Those  who,  like  this  damsel,  possessed  the  "  spirit  of 
divination,"  were  doubtless  rare,  and  their  value  correspond- 
ingly high.  The  value  of  the  girl  to  her  owners  seems  to  be 
shown  by  the  fact  that  she  had  a  plurality  of  "  masters ;" 
either  because  her  price  had  been  too  great  to  be  advanced  by 
a  single  person,  or  such  as  no  one  person  had  cared  to  risk 
upon  the  uncertainty  of  her  life. 

The  deliverance  of  this  damsel  by  Paul  from  the  spirit  that 
possessed  her,  at  once  divested  her  of  this  rare  value  as  a 
slave,  and  deprived  the  masters  of  the  current  gains  from  her 
services.  She  was  no  longer  of  any  more  value  for  sale  or 
service  than  any  other  female  slave.  They  were  not  likely  to 
regard  this  serious  loss,  "  the  loss  of  their  gains,"  with  com- 
placency. They  were  indeed  greatly  enraged.  But  as  they 
could  not  well  urge  what  had  been  done  to  their  private  loss  as 
an  ofience  against  the  public  peace,  and  as  they  were  doubt- 
less unwilling  to  call  attention  to  the  real  nature  of  the  trans- 
action, lest  it  should  have  redounded  to  the  credit  of  the 
apostle,  they  found  it  convenient  to  assume  a  wondrous  zeal 
for  the  public  religion ;  and  seizing  Paul  and  Silas,  who  ap- 
peared as  the  leading  persons  of  the  missionary  party,  they 
hauled  them  before  the  magistrates,  then  sitting  in  the  court 
or  forum,  held  in  the  market-place,  as  a  place  of  the  greatest 
concourse,  just  as  in  many  of  our  own  old  towns  the  court- 
house is  in  or  over  the  market.     In  a  colony  like  this,  the 


THE    PYTHONESS. 


341 


magistrates  were  chosen  by  the  inhabitants,  were  necessarily 
Romans,  holding  generally  military  commands,  and  had  a 
wholly  independent  jurisdiction,  being  in  no  way  responsible 
even  to  the  governor  of  the  province,  who  could  not  come  into 
the  colony  to  exercise  any  authority  in  it.  This  peculiarity 
is,  with  his  usual  precision,  indicated  by  Luke,  by  the  use  of 
the  peculiar  and  proper  title  (axQ<xrrjy6g)  not  elsewhere  used  in 
Scripture  except  to  denote  a  military  command,  being,  in  fact, 
the  Greek  for  prcetor.  He  uses  the  plural  number,  the  mag- 
istrates being  usually  two,  and  hence  also  frequently  called 
duumviri.  Cicero  mentions  it  as  an  innovation  in  this  time 
that  the  duumviri  of  Capua  had  assumed  the  title  of  praetors, 
and  had  lictors  going  before  them,  not  with  sticks  or  staves, 


out  with  fasces,  or  bundled  rods,  like  the  praetors  at  Rome  ; 
and  he  thought  that  in  a  few  years  they  might  affect  the  title 
of  consuls.  The  example  did  in  fact  spread  ;  and  these  mag- 
istrates were  everywhere  praetors,  and  had  their  fasces  borne 
before  them,  in  nearly  all  the  Roman  colonies. 


342  FIFTIETH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

FIFTIETH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE   JAILER. ACTS   XVI.    20-40. 

The  offence  of  which  Paul  and  Silas  were  accused  before 
the  praetors  was  that,  being  Jews,  and  as  such  merely  toler- 
ated themselves,  and  thereby  bound  to  be  the  more  guarded 
in  their  conduct,  they  had  been  there  teaching  a  new  religion, 
contrary  to  the  law.  We  lately  showed  that  the  heathen  of 
this  day  were  very  ready  to  adopt  the  religion  of  foreigners. 
But  when  they  did  so,  it  was  merely  some  new  and  congenial 
form  of  idolatry,  with  its  images  and  symbols ;  and  this, 
among  the  Romans,  could  only  be  done  with  the  sanction  of 
the  public  authorities,  without  which  it  remained  unlawful  to 
adopt  or  recommend  the  worship  of  any  gods  but  those 
already  acknowledged,  or  to  attempt  to  detach  the  people  from 
the  worship  already  established.  Therefore  this  would  have 
seemed  unlawful,  whatever  the  religion  might  have  been, 
without  a  sanction  previously  obtained  ;  but  it  was  doubly  so 
in  the  case  of  Judaism  (and  the  apostles  were  regarded  simply 
as  Jews),  seeing  that  it  was  known  to  be  adverse  to  all  sub- 
sisting idolatries,  and  refused  to  take  any  place  with  or  beside 
them.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  heathen  hostility  to  Juda- 
ism, and  to  Christianity  while  regarded  as  a  species  of  Judaism, 
and  afterwards  to  Christianity  for  its  own  sake,  when  its  prin- 
ciples came  to  be  better  understood.  In  the  latter  case  it  was 
more  intense,  because,  to  equal  hostility  against  idolatry,  as  such 
it  added  dogmas  of  its  own,  at  which  Pagan  pride  revolted. 

The  magistrates,  very  sensitive  to  whatever  might  excite 
public  disturbance,  as  it  was  insinuated  this  kind  of  teaching 
must  do,  and  perceiving  that  the  mere  statement  of  the  charge 
made  a  stir  among  the  multitude,  sought  to  allay  the  ferment 
by  some  instant  provisional  punishment.  They  therefore 
directed  the  lictors  to  beat  the  apostles  with  their  rods.  The 
clothes  of  Paul  and  Silas  were  hastily  pulled  off,  and  their 
bared  backs  exposed  to  this  severe  infliction.     The  lictors  un- 


THE    JAILER,  348 

bound  their  fasces,  and  with  the  leathern  thongs  proceeded  to 
bind  the  prisoners,  to  whose  backs  they  then,  with  a  strong 
hand,  applied  the  rods  of  elm.  This  seems  to  have  been  re- 
garded as  a  severer  punishment  than  the  scourging  with 
thongs,  as  used  among  the  Jews.  Besides,  in  that  case,  the 
number  of  strokes  was  limited  by  law,  not  exceeding  forty, 
and  therefore  in  practice  thirty-nine  ;  whereas  the  blows  with 
the  rods  were  only  limited  by  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates. 
This,  therefore,  was  one  of  the  occasions  to  which  Paul  refers 
when  he  tells  the  Corinthians,  "Thrice  was  I  beaten  with 
rods ;"  and  to  which  also  may  be  applied  the  declaration  that 
he  had  suffered  " stripes  above  measure"  that  is,  probably,  not 
limited  in  number,  as  among  the  Jews,  from  whom  he  had, 
he  says,  "  five  times  received  forty  stripes  save  one."* 

Having  been  thus  chastised,  Paul  and  Silas  were  sent  to 
the  town-prison,  with  special  injunctions  to  the  jailer  to  keep 
them  safely.  Aware  of  the  responsibility  imposed  upon  him 
by  such  a  charge,  the  jailer  not  only  thrust  them  into  the 
innermost  and  safest  part  of  the  prison,  but  "  made  their  feet 
fast  in  the  stocks."  The  instrument  thus  designated  was  ordi- 
narily a  wooden,  or  sometimes  iron-bound  machine,  by  which 
any  member,  and  especially  the  neck,  was  so  confined  that  it 
could  not  be  raised  ;  or  into  which  the  feet  only  were  thrust 
and  constrained,  as  in  the  present  instance  ;  or,  finally,  it  was 
one  in  which  the  person  was  held — all  the  members,  neck, 
hands,  and  feet — by  means  of  five  holes.  But  the  painful 
constraint  of  the  stocks,  added  to  the  smart  of  their  torn  backs, 
had  no  power  over  the  undaunted  spirit  of  the  prisoners. 
The  Lord,  for  whom  it  was  their  privilege  to  suffer,  was  with 
them  in  the  low  dungeon,  and  filled  their  hearts  with  spiritual 
gladness,  which  found  expression  in  holy  songs,  which  they 
sang  together  in  the  night  season.  The  other  prisoners  heard 
them,  we  are  told  ;  and  doubtless  they  were  much  astonished 
to  hear  such  sounds,  instead  of  the  accents  of  lamentation  and 
the  groans  of  pain.  As  Paul  and  Silas  were  both  Hebrews, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  sang  some  of  the  Psalms  of 
*  2  Cor.  xi.  23-25. 


344  FIFTIETH    WEEK TUESDAY. 

David  in  their  native  tongue  ;  and  Hebrew  singing  nuver  fails 
to  attract  the  marked  attention  of  those  unused  to  it,  and  un- 
acquainted with  the  language,  as  was  assuredly  the  case  with 
the  other  persons  in  this  heathen  prison.  We  can  remember 
to  have  listened  to  it  with  strange  fascination  in  early  boy- 
hood, as  proceeding  from  a  synagogue  close  by  our  abode. 

But  suddenly  the  voice  of  those  who  sang  was  stayed,  and 
the  attention  of  those  who  listened  interrupted,  by  a  terrible 
convulsion  which  made  the  walls  of  that  strong  prison  totter, 
which  caused  all  its  gates  and  doors  to  fly  wide  open,  and 
which  made  the  bonds  fall  from  the  limbs  of  all  the  captives 
there.  This  latter  incident  of  the  loose  bonds  of  the  prisoners 
being  made  to  drop  off,  is  important  as  showing  the  miracu- 
lous nature  of  the  event.  It  calls  to  mind  the  rending  of  the 
flowing  veil  of  the  temple  by  the  earthquake  at  our  Lord's 
crucifixion.  The  keeper  waking  suddenly  from  his  sleep,  and 
beholding  the  prison  thus  open,  made  no  question  that  all  his 
prisoners  had  escaped.  He  knew  that  for  this  his  life  was  for- 
feited ;  and  to  avoid  the  ignominy  of  the  public  death  that 
awaited  him  on  the  morrow,  he  drew  forth  his  sword,  at  once 
to  anticipate  and  escape  that  doom.  Suicide  was  the  common 
resort  of  Romans  under  such  circumstances,  and  in  their  view 
it  had  more  the  nature  of  a  merit  and  a  privilege  than  of  a 
crime.  But  Paul,  perceiving  the  poor  man's  intention,  called 
loudly,  "  Do  thyself  no  harm,  for  we  are  all  here  !" 

If,  then,  they  did  not  escape,  what  was  the  need  of  the 
earthquake  ?  what  the  use  of  their  loosened  bonds  ?  for  they 
were,  after  all,  at  length  freed  by  other  means.  The  earth- 
quake was  manifestly  the  act  of  God,  designed  for  a  special 
end.  That  end  was  not  the  liberation  of  the  captives,  but  the 
liberation  of  their  jailer.  God  had  a  purpose  of  high  mercy 
towards  him,  and  to  fulfil  it  had  sent  Paul  and  Silas  to  his 
prison,  had  sent  the  earthquake  to  shake  its  walls, — that  this 
man's  heart  might  be  shaken  ;  that  this  spirit,  so  long  in 
bondage  to  the  world  and  to  the  powers  of  darkness,  might  be 
set  free.  The  keeper  had  doubtless  heard — even  the  Pythoness 
had  proclaimed  it  from  day  to  day  in  the  streets — that  his 


THE    JAILER.  345 

captives  had  claimed  to  be  divinely  commissioned  to  declare 
to  men  the  way  of  salvation  unto  eternal  life.  This,  which 
had  seemed  to  him  an  idle  pretence,  was  now  awfully  authen- 
ticated by  their  songs  in  the  night ;  by  the  earthquake  ;  by 
the  doors  marvellously  thrown  open,  as  if  for  their  egress  ;  by 
their  neglecting  to  do  that  which  would  have  insured  his  ruin ; 
and  by  their  solicitude  to  preserve  the  life  of  one  who  had 
treated  them  so  roughly.  He  saw  divine  acts  that  made  him 
afraid ;  he  recognized  divine  principles,  which  showed  him  the 
depravity  of  his  own  life  and  character ;  and  a  voice  within 
told  him  that  he  was  undone,  unless  a  way  of  salvation  were 
found.  All  this  inner  work  was  the  act  of  a  moment.  He 
called  for  a  light,  and,  hastening  into  the  cell,  cast  himself  at 
the  feet  of  Paul  and  Silas,  in  token  of  his  deep  respect.  He 
spoke  not  then — not  enduring  to  detain  them  longer  in  that 
dismal  place ;  but  having  brought  them  forth  into  the  outer 
and  more  commodious  part  of  the  prison,  he  addressed  to 
them  the  most  solemn  inquiry  man  can  make :  "  Sirs,  what 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  Their  answer  was  very  plain  and 
simple  :  "  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  Memorable  words  !  written  as  with  a  sunbeam  over 
the  portals  of  the  Christian  church — the  record  of  its  liberties 
and  the  charter  of  its  hopes.  They  then  proceeded,  more  at 
leisure,  to  pour  into  his  attentive  and  delighted  ears  the  his- 
tory of  Jesus  Christ ;  to  declare  His  doctrine  and  to  explain 
what  it  was  to  believe  in  Him.  All  his  household  shared 
these  glad  tidings,  having  been  assembled  for  the  purpose, 
either  at  his  suggestion  or  at  the  requestof  the  apostles.  The 
jailer  then  washed  their  stiffened  stripes ;  and  he  was  next 
himself,  with  his  household,  washed  with  the  waters  of  bap- 
tism, and  admitted  into  the  church  of  Christ.  After  this  he 
introduced  them  to  the  ease  and  comfort  of  his  own  apart- 
ments, and  with  kind  solicitude  set  before  them  such  refresh- 
ment as  by  this  time  they  must  have  greatly  needed  ;  his 
hospitable  cares  being  now  and  then  interrupted  by  bursts  of 
joy  at  the  unutterable  gain  to  his  soul  which  he  had  that 
night  made. 

15* 


346  FIFTIETH  WEEK TUESDAY. 

Tt  was  no  sooner  day  than  the  lictors  made  their  appear- 
ance at  the  prison.  But  it  was  not,  as  might  be  expected,  to 
take  Paul  and  Silas  again  before  the  praetors  for  further  exam- 
ination, but  with  an  order  for  their  immediate  release.  How 
this  change  had  been  produced  we  know  not  exactly ;  but  we 
do  know  that  it  was  by  Him  who  has  the  hearts  of  all  men 
in  his  hands,  and  can  turn  them  as  He  wills.  Earthquakes 
are  always  awful  things,  and  suited  to  alarm  the  guilty  con- 
science. Especially  were  they  terrible  to  the  Romans,  who 
regarded  them  as  assured  tokens  of  the  anger  of  the  gods ; 
and  this  may  have  led  them  to  reflect  that  they  had  commit- 
ted a  great  iniquity  and  a  culpable  infraction  of  Roman  law, 
for  which  they  might  be  called  to  account,  in  subjecting  Paul 
and  Silas  to  punishment,  in  deference  to  popular  clamor,  with- 
out trial  and  condemnation,  and,  indeed,  without  having  heard 
a  word  of  defence.  Paul  knew  very  well  how  grievously  the 
praetors  had  committed  themselves  in  this  respect ;  how  illegal- 
ly the  magistrates  had  acted ;  and  how  seriously  their  pro- 
ceedings had,  in  a  Roman  colony,  compromised  the  much- 
vaunted  dignity  and  justice  of  the  Roman  law.  He  therefore 
actually  refused  to  depart  from  the  prison,  in  that  underhand 
way.  He  declared  that  he  and  his  friend  had  been  illegally 
treated.  He  proclaimed  that  in  their  persons  the  honor  of 
Roman  citizens  had  been  outraged,  and  he  demanded  that 
their  vindication  should  be  as  public  as  their  punishment  had 
been,  by  the  magistrates  coming  themselves  and  releasing  them 
in  due  form.  The  good  jailer,  who  had  supposed  that  they  would 
have  been  glad  to  get  away  on  any  terms,  was  astounded  at  all 
this  ;  but  still  more  was  he  astonished  when,  with  very  little 
delay,  the  magistrates  actually  appeared  at  the  prison  as  Paul 
had  demanded.  They  had  no  doubt  been  terrified  at  the  in- 
timation that  the  men  they  had  thus  injured  were  citizens  of 
Rome,  whose  persons,  as  such,  were  inviolable.  Hence  it  is 
on  record  that  the  simple  expression,  "lama  Roman  citizen  " 
(civis  Romanus  sum),  often  sufficed  in  even  the  most  distant 
and  barbarous  countries,  to  repress  all  violence  against  the 
persons  who  were  able  to  use  it ;  for  Rome  had  made  it  wide- 


THE    JAILER.  347 

ly  known  how  well  she  was  able,  and  how  fully  she  was  dis- 
posed to  resent  any  injury  offered  to  her  citizens.  But  that  a 
.Roman  citizen  should  have  been  scourged  at  all,  much  more 
scourged  unheard,  in  a  Roman  colony,  and  by  order  of  Ro- 
man magistrates,  was  an  enormity  which  would  have  excited 
astonishment  and  indignation,  wherever  heard  of,  in  every  Ro- 
man breast,  and  would  in  all  probability  be  sternly  noticed  at 
Rome.  Hence  the  praetors  yielded  to  the  demands  of  Paul, 
being  probably  but  too  glad  to  escape  so  cheaply  from  the 
consequences  of  a  fault  so  serious.  They  came,  therefore,  and, 
apologizing  for  their  mistake,  and  declaring  their  conviction  of 
the  apostles'  innocence,  led  them  forth  from  the  prison — only 
politely  intimating  that  it  might,  under  the  circumstance  be 
desirable  that  they  should  retire  from  the  city  at  th*1*1'  earliest 
convenience.  With  this  hint  Paul  and  Silas  nought  proper 
to  comply ;  and  after  they  had  been  to  t^  ^ouse  of  Lydia, 
and  spoken  encouragingly  to  the  bretven,  tney  took  their  de- 
parture from  Philippi. 

It  has  been  asked  why  Pa*-' and  Silas  (who> {t  appears,  was 
also  a  citizen  of  Rome)  &  not  urge  their  civic  rights  in  01" 
der  to  prevent  their  punishments.  The  best  answer  seems  to 
be  that  the  hast*- and  clamor  allowed  them  no  opportunity, 
and  would  n^  permit  them  to  be  heard. 

And  i* Jt  De  asked  what  use  there  was  in  urging  this  claim 
afterriwds,  when  their  liberation  was  already  secured  without 
it,  it  may  be  answered  that  there  is  every  reason  why  a  man 
who  has  been  wrongfully  treated  should  claim  his  liberation 
as  a  right,  and  refuse  to  receive  it  as  a  pardon  or  a  favor.  If 
Paul  had  departed  secretly,  it  might  have  been  reported  that 
he  had  broken  from  prison,  which  would  have  tainted  his  rep- 
utation, and  have  been  injurious  to  his  apostolic  authority 
there  and  elsewhere.  He  was,  moreover,  bound  both  by  civil 
and  natural  right  to  maintain  his  privileges,  which  he  could 
not,  without  damage  to  others,  suffer  to  be  injuriously  affected 
in  his  person.  He  had  also  special  regard,  as  Doddridge  ob- 
serves, to  the  interests  of  Christianity  in  this  place ;  "  for  such 
a  token  of  public  respect  from  the  magistrates  would  undoubt- 


348  FIFTIETH    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

edly  encourage  the  new  converts,  and  remove  a  stumbling- 
block  out  of  the  way  of  others,  who  might  not  have  discern- 
ed the  true  value  of  the  characters  of  Paul  and  Silas  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  injury  as  they  had  before  suffered."  It  may 
be  added,  that  the  form  of  acknowledgement  which  Paul  de- 
manded, was  not  only  just  in  itself,  but  particularly  suitably 
to  the  place  where  it  was  made ;  for  we  learn  that  it  was,  es- 
pecially among  the  Macedonians,  thought  a  mark  of  innocence 
for  any  one  to  be  publicly  set  free  by  the  magistrates. 

We  find  magistrates  and  others,  here  and  elsewhere,  readily 
yielding  credence  to  Paul's  assertion  of  his  citizenship.  It 
may  be  that  he  was  in  possession  of  some  document  to  sub- 
stance the  claim ;  but  if  not,  it  may  be  explained  by  the 
fact,  thauiiQ  one  Would  make  such  a  claim  lightly,  as  it  was  a 
capital  offence  t0  make  an  untrue  pretension  to  the  rights  of 
citizenship. 

It  appears  from  the  epistle  which  Paul  addressed  to  this 
church  about  ten  years  a>er?  from  R0me,  that  its  members 
continued  to  cherish  the  moi  affectionate  regard  for  him. 
Among  the  modes  in  which  the>  o,vinced  this,  was  that  of 
sending  contributions  towards  his  subsv.ence.  And  this  was 
a  rare  distinction ;  for  there  seems  to  have  b^u  no  other  church 
from  whom  he  received  or  would  accept  this  vind  0f  assists 
ance,  as  he  often  chose  rather  to  labor  with  his  orvn  hands 
than  to  lay  himself  open  to  the  slightest  suspicion  of  nj-,erest- 
ed  motives. 


FIFTIETH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THESSLALONIANS   AND    BEREANS. ACTS   XVII.    1-15. 

It  appears  probable  that  Luke  and  Timothy,  not  having 
been  involved  in  the  late  transactions,  were,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  infant  church,  left  behind  at  Philippi ;  or,  at  least,  that 
they  did  not  attend  Paul  and  Silas  from  that  place.  Timothy, 
however,  joined  them  soon,  either  at  Thessalonica  or  Berea  ; 


THESSALONIANS    AND    BEREANS.  340 

but  we  do  not  again  find  Luke  the  companion  of  Paul,  until 
four  or  five  years  after,  when  he  left  Greece  on  his  final  re- 
corded visit  to  Jerusalem.  This  is  inferred  from  his  dropping 
the  first  person  with  chap.  xvi.  10,  and  resuming  it  in  xx.  5,  6. 
If  the  plural  sign  be  good  to  indicate  Luke's  presence,  the 
want  of  it  must  be  no  less  good  to  show  his  absence. 

The  destination  of  Paul  and  Silas  was  Thessalonica,  nearly 
a  hundred  miles  west  from  Philippi,  and  the  chief  city  of  the 
second  part  of  Macedonia.  To  this  place  they  pursued  the 
usual  course  by  way  of  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia,  cities 
about  thirty  miles  apart,  and  nearly  equidistant  between  Philippi 
and  Thessalonica.  As  nothing  is  recorded  of  their  proceed- 
ings, it  is  probable  that  they  merely  passed  a  night  at  each 
of  these  places  on  their  way.  Amphipolis  was  then  a  large 
commercial  city,  but  both  it  and  Apollonia  are  now  in  ruins. 

Thessalonica  was  a  far  more  important  place,  rich  and  pop- 
ulous, with  a  very  large  proportion  of  Jews  among  its  inhabit- 
ants. They  were,  as  usual,  attracted  by  the  commercial  ad- 
vantages of  the  place ;  and  the  same  attraction  has  secured  to 
the  city  an  extraordinarily  large  Israelitish  population  down  to 
the  present  day,  when,  of  its  seventy  thousand  inhabitants, 
more  than  one-half  are  of  the  Hebrew  race.  This  population 
renders  it  the  third  city  of  the  Ottoman  empire  in  Europe. 
It  still  preserves  its  ancient  name,  in  the  contracted  form  of 
Salonica ;  and  rising  up  the  slope  of  a  hill  upon  the  shore, 
presents,  from  the  sea,  an  imposing  appearance,  which  is  not 
sustained  by  a  nearer  examination. 

Paul  and  Silas  remained  here  for  three  or  four  weeks,  preach- 
ing not  merely  in  the  synagogues  on  the  Sabbath-day,  but 
teaching  daily  from  house  to  house.  As  was  his  wont  with 
Jewish  congregations,  Paul  "  reasoned  with  them  out  of  the 
Scriptures ;"  proving  first  that  the  promised  Messiah,  whoever 
he  was,  must  needs  have  suffered  and  risen  from  the  dead ; 
and  then  proceeding  to  declare  that  the  Jesus  whom  he 
preached  was  that  Messiah.  The  effect  upon  the  different 
classes  of  hearers  is  pointedly  indicated.  "  Some  of  them 
(the  born  Hebrews)  believed  and   consorted  with  Paul  and 


350  FIFTIETH    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

Silas,  and  of  the  devout  Greeks  a  great  multitude,  and  of  the 
chief  women  not  a  few"  It  would  thus  appear,  as  Paul's 
own  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  intimate,  that  the  basis  of 
the  church  formed  at  this  place  was  Gentile.  From  these 
epistles  we  gather  some  indications  of  his  proceedings,  which 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  does  not  supply.  It  was  here  par- 
ticularly that  Paul  manifested  a  marked  carefulness  in  avoid- 
ing all  appearance  of  living  upon  other  men's  labors,  as  if  he 
made  a  gain  of  godliness ;  while  he  felt  and  avowed  that 
those  who  ministered  in  spiritual  things  had  a  right  to  a  sub- 
sistence from  those  among  whom  they  labored.  But  though 
he  possessed  this  right,  he  did  not  choose  to  exercise  it.  By 
his  own  hard  labor,  night  and  day,  upon  the  rough  hair-cloth 
used  in  the  making  of  tents,  he  was  enabled  to  maintain  the 
honest  dignity  of  independence  in  being  chargeable  to  no  one, 
and  to  convince  those  to  whom  he  presented  the  Gospel  that 
he  sought  not  theirs  but  them — thus  maintaining  his  disinter- 
estedness beyond  all  suspicion  among  the  rich  converts  of 
Thessalonica.  He,  however,  received  once  and  again  some 
aid  from  the  small  and  therefore  poor  church  at  Philippi ;  for, 
from  their  tried  love  to  him,  and  their  established  faith,  it 
would  have  been  churlish  to  refuse  the  aid  which  from  the  un- 
tried Thessalonians  it  would  have  been  unsafe  to  accept.  No 
man  ever  knew  better  than  Paul  how  to  show  the  right  dis- 
tinction at  the  right  place. 

The  success  at  Thessalonica  soon  aroused  the  opposition  of 
the  Jews  who  believed  not,  and  eventually  they  gave  to  their 
opposition  the  form  which  had  been  found  effectual  in  other 
places.  Fearing  among  the  heathen  to  impart  to  their  hostility 
a  purely  Jewish  aspect,  knowing  that  as  such  it  would  gain  little 
attention  from  the  heathen  magistrates,  they  stirred  up  against 
Paul  and  Silas,  by  their  vile  insinuations  and  calumnies,  the 
rabid  passions  of  the  worthless  idlers  and  ignorant  rabble,  who 
have  always  abounded  in  the  maritime  towns  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean ;  and  soon  gathering  a  company  of  these,  they  rushed 
with  howling  clamor,  which  presently  set  the  town  in  an  up- 
roar, to  the  house  where  the  apostles  lodged.     This  was  the 


THESSALONIANS    AND    BEREANS.  351 

dwelling  of  one  Jason,  who,  if  the  same  person  who  is  men- 
tioned by  that  name  in  Rom.  xvi.  21,  was  a  relative  of  Paul. 
The  apostle  and  his  companion  were  providentally  absent 
from  the  house ;  and  being  thus  baulked  of  their  intended 
prey,  the  wild  mob,  having  broken  into  the  house,  seized  Jason 
himself,  with  some  of  the  brethren  who  happened  to  be 
there,  and  dragged  them  along  with  swift  violence  before  "  the 
rulers  of  the  city."  Here  Jason  especially  was  accused  of 
harboring  those,  who,  after  having  "set  the  world  upside 
down,"  had  "  come  hither  also,"  illegally  prating  to  them,  the 
subjects  of  Caesar,  about  "another  king,  one  Jesus."  The 
Jews  had  thus  adroitly  put  into  the  mouths  of  their  "  rascal 
rabblement,"  that  charge  of  political  sedition  which  has  always 
been  found  more  that  any  other  effectual  for  engaging  the  at- 
tention of  the  magistracy.  Here,  however,  the  persons  mainly 
implicated  in  the  charge  were  not  present,  and  all  the  magis- 
trates could  do  was  to  take  security  from  Jason  and  the  others, 
and  allow  them  to  depart. 

Security,  for' what? 

Not  surely,  as  some  suppose,  that  they  would  produce  the 
accused  the  next  day,  for  they  would  then  have  forfeited  their 
bail  by  sending  them  away  the  ensuing  night ;  but  rather, 
perhaps,  that  they  pledged  themselves  for  their  immediate  de- 
parture from  the  city, — which,  in  general,  was  all  that  either 
the  magistrates  or  the  Jews  in  such  cases  desired.  It  has 
been  suggested  by  some,  however,  that  Jason  pledged  himself 
no  longer  to  receive  them  into  his  house  ;  and  by  others,  that 
the  undertaking  was,  that  the  peace  of  the  city  should  not  be 
disturbed ;  while  yet  others  have  been  content  to  suppose  that 
they  made  themselves  responsible  for  the  future  good  conduct 
of  the  accused.  But  all  these  latter  alternatives  seem  to  in- 
volve an  admission  to  the  discredit  of  Paul  and  Silas,  to  which, 
we  should  suppose,  that  Jason  would  not  have  been  likely  to 
consent. 

What  was  the  form  of  the  security  given  we  do  not  know. 
We  always  think  of  pecuniary  pledges  in  such  cases.  It  may 
have  been  so.     But  money  was  in  those  times  less  sufficient 


352  FIFTIETH   WEEK WEDNESDAV. 

for  all  purposes, — less  the  representative  of  moral  value,  than 
it  has  since  become ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  only  security  re- 
quired from  Jason  and  the  others,  was  their  word  or  signature. 

During  the  following  night  Paul  and  Silas,  at  the  instance 
of  their  friends,  took  their  departure  from  the  city  ;  and  pass- 
ing fifty  miles  or  more  southward  along  the  coast,  tarried  not 
till  they  reached  Berea. 

The  Jews  at  this  place  were  found  to  be  more  candid  and 
well-disposed  than  those  of  Thessalonica  ;  for  they  searched 
the  Scriptures  diligently,  to  ascertain  whether  they,  indeed, 
bore  that  testimony  to  the  doctrine  he  taught,  to  which  Paul 
habitually  appealed  in  declaring  the  Gospel  to  Jewish  hearers. 
Not  but  that  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  might  be,  and  has  been 
proved  without  such  reference  to  the  Old  Testament.  But  in 
reasoning  with  Jews,  it  would  be  impossible,  and  if  possible, 
unwise,  to  dispense  with  the  advantage  which  the  Old  Testa- 
ment gives ;  and  all  subsequent  experience  has  proved  that 
the  old  apostolic  method  is  the  most  effectual  of  all  others  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  The  results  of  such  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  as  that  which  the  Bereans  instituted,  can- 
not be  doubted  ;  and  although  Paul  was  soon  obliged  to  leave 
the  place,  on  account  of  the  persecution  raised  against  him  by 
some  Jews  who  arrived  from  Thessalonica,  the  prospects  of  a 
good  harvest  were  here  so  promising,  that  he  left ,  Silas  and 
Timothy  behind  him  to  cultivate  the  field.  Timothy  had 
joined  them  at  this  place  or  at  Thessalonica,  and  we  may  sup- 
pose that  it  was  not  without  a  pang  that  Paul  parted  so  soon 
again  from  one  so  beloved. 

Conducted  by  the  affectionate  disciples  at  Berea,  who  were 
not  to  leave  him  till  he  was  beyond  the  reach  of  danger,  Paul 
proceeded  towards  Athens,  going  down  to  the  sea,  and  then 
embarking  in  a  vessel  bound  to  that  city.  Here  his  escort 
left  him  and  returned  to  Berea,  with  a  message  to  Silas  and 
Timothy  to  join  him  with  all  convenient  speed. 


ATHENS.  353 

FIFTIETH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

ATHENS ACTS   XVII.    15-21  ;    1    THESS.    II.    1Y-20-III.    1-5. 

Behold  Paul,  then,  at  Athens  ! 

Before  we  consider  his  proceedings  there,  it  may  be 
desirable  to  consider  the  then  subsisting  condition  of  the 
renowned  city  to  which  he  came.  The  ancient  military  and 
political  splendor  had  departed,  and  the  seat  of  government 
had,  since  the  conquest  of  Greece  by  the  Romans,  been  trans- 
ferred to  Corinth.  Yet  the  sun  of  her  glory  had  not  yet  set. 
She  was  still  the  centre  of  Grecian,  and  indirectly  of  Roman, 
refinement.  Philosophy  and  the  liberal  arts  were  still  care- 
fully cultivated ;  students,  in  every  department,  and  from 
every  quarter,  still  resorted  thither  for  improvement ;  and  her 
streets  were  still  crowded  by  senators  and  rhetoricians,  philo- 
sophers and  statesmen.  The  eye  of  the  stranger  still  rested 
with  wonder  upon  the  temples,  and  porticos,  and  statues — the 
masterpieces  of  art.  It  may  be  concluded  that  the  apostle 
landed  at  Phalerus,  since  this  is  the  nearest  Athenian  port  to 
one  coming  from  Macedonia,  and  since  the  altars  of  the  un- 
known gods,  which  he  declares  that  he  had  noticed,  were  on 
the  way  from  it  to  the  city.  As  he  stepped  on  shore  at  the 
port,  he  beheld  before  him  the  splendid  temple  of  Ceres,  an- 
other to  Minerva,  and  another  to  Jupiter.  A  little  further  on 
are  some  altars — and  pausing  to  read  the  inscriptions,  he  finds 
on  one  of  them  the  dedication,  "To  the  Unknown  God." 
Beyond,  he  could  not  fail  to  notice  a  temple  without  doors  or 
roof.  It  is  that  of  Juno,  burnt  by  Mardonius  at  the  time  of 
the  Persian  invasion,  and  standing  in  this  state  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  event.  He  enters  the  city  gates  ;  on  either  hand 
are  painted  porticos,  with  bronze  statues  of  the  most  illus- 
trious characters  the  city  had  produced.  On  the  left  is  the 
Pnyx,  a  small  but  celebrated  hill,  where,  standing  on  a  block 
of  bare  stone,  Demosthenes  had  in  times  of  old  sent  forth  the 
thunders  of  his  eloquence  to  the  Athenians  assembled  in  front. 


S54 


FIFTIETH    WEEK THURSDAY. 


Advancing  onward,  the  traveller  beheld  the  statues  of  Conon, 
and  of  his  scarcely  less  celebrated  son  Timotheus ;  and  then 
he  reaches  another  painted  portico  on  whose  walls  is  portrayed 
the  battle  of  Mantinasa,  and  in  the  foreground  of  it  was  seen 
the  commanding  figure  of  Epaminondas.  His  eye  then  rests 
on  a  statue  whose  kindling  features  and  vehement  action  be- 


speak the  whirlwind  of  thought  within — this  is  Demosthenes. 
Here  also  are  the  statues  of  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton,  of 
Miltiades  and  Themistocles.  There  is  Philip  of  Macedon,  and 
near  him  his  mightier  son — Alexander  the  Great.  Beyond  is 
the  majestic  figure  of  Solon,  the  Athenian  legislator,  erected 
in  front  of  a  portico,  where  in  glowing  colors  is  depicted  on 
one  side  the  capture  of  Troy,  and  on  the  other  the  glorious 
struggle  of  the  band  of  patriots  against  the  countless  hosts  of 
Persia,  on  the  field  of  Marathon.  Paul  would  not  enter  the 
idol  temples  by  which  he  was  surrounded  ;  but  if  he  could 
have  gone  into  that  of  Demus  and  the  Graces  hard  by,  he 
might  have  seen  a  statue  in  bronze,  on  which  even  an  Israelite 
might  have  looked  with  interest — being  that  of  Hyrcanus,  the 
Jewish  pontiff-prince,  voted  by  the  Athenian  people  in  ac- 


ATHENS. 


355 


knowledgment  of  the  courteous  kindness  he  had  often  shown 
to  their  citizens.*  On  the  right  the  stranger  passes  the 
Areopagus  or  Mars'  Hill,  ascended  by  sixteen  steps  from  the 
forum  or  market  place  on  the  south-east,  and  on  the  platform 
at  the  top  is  the  Court  of  Areopagus,  the  Senate  of  Athens — 
that  august  assembly  which  determined  the  weightiest  matters 
of  policy,  and  settled  the  religion  of  the  State.  It  was  at  this 
bar  that  Socrates  was  arraigned,  and  it  was  here  that  Paul 
himself  was  soon  to  plead.  In  front  of  him  rises  the  Acrop- 
olis, crowned  with  the  marvel  of  every  age,  from  Pericles  to 
the  present — the  Parthenon,  formed  of  white  Pentelican 
marble,  and  adorned  with  the  finest  sculptures  from  the  hand 
of  Phidias.  By  the  side  of  it,  upon  the  height,  stands  the 
champion  of  the  city,  Pallas  Promachos,  wrought  in  bronze, 
and  towering  so  high  above  the  other  buildings  that  the 
plume  of  her  helmet  and  the  point  of  her  spear  were  visible 
on  the  sea  between  Sunium  and  Athens. 


But  to  describe,  or  even  to  indicate,  all  the  temples  and 
statues  of  Athens,  were  an  endless  task.  There  was  every 
conceivable  variety  of  structure  and  sculpture.  There  were 
statues  colossal,  full-sized  and  diminutive;  some  in  bronze, 
some  in  marble,  others  in  stone,  others  in  wood,  others  in 
pottery  ;  some  plain,  some  painted,  others  overlaid  with  ivory, 
or  silver,  or  gold  ;  some  isolated,  others  projecting  in  relief 
from  the  wall.     Well,  therefore,  might  the  sacred  h^torian 

•  See  a  copy  of  the  entire  decree  in  Josephus'  Antiq.  xii.  8,  5. 


356  FIFTIETH    WEEK THURSDAY. 

say  that  Paul's  spirit  was  stirred  within  him  when  he  scanned 
a  city  so  "  crowded  with  idols."*  So  signally  was  this  the  fact, 
that  it  struck  the  attention  of  even  heathen  observers.  Onef 
describes  it  as  full  of  temples ;  another^  tells  us  that  there 
were  more  statues  in  this  city  than  in  all  the  rest  of  Greece ; 
while  the  satirist§  declares  that  it  was  easier  to  find  a  god  than 
a  man  in  Athens. 

It  may  be  doubtful  whether  Paul  had  any  intention  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  in  Athens  when  he  arrived  at  that  city. 
It  is  possible  that  he  merely  sought  temporary  shelter  there, 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Macedonian  jurisdiction,  until  he 
should  be  joined  by  Silas  and  Timothy,  and  be  able  to  concert 
with  them  the  course  of  operations  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
evangelization  of  Macedonia,  which  had  been  interrupted  at 
Thessalonica  and  Berea.  We  gather  this  from  the  first  of  the 
epistles  he  wrote  not  long  after  to  the  Thessalonians  (ii.  1*7), 
in  which  he  states  that,  when  he  left  their  city  in  such  haste, 
he  had  anticipated  but  a  very  brief  absence — "  for  an  hour's 
time."  He  had  expected  that  the  storm  would  soon  blow 
over,  and  that,  after  preaching  the  Gospel  for  a  time  at  Berea, 
he  might  return  to  Thessalonica.  But  new  troubles  had  over- 
taken him  at  Berea,  and  he  had  fled  for  his  life  to  a  distant 
city.  Yet  at  Athens  he  still  cherished  the  hope  that,  by  the 
time  Silas  and  Timothy  joined  him,  matters  would  have 
changed  sufficiently  for  the  better  to  permit  them  to  revisit 
Thessalonica  together. 

But  while  thus  awaiting  their  arrival,  one  of  Paul's  earnest 
and  ardent  temperament  could  ill  brook  to  remain  an  idle 
spectator,  while  the  grossest  superstitions  were  reigning 
around :  "  His  heart  was  hot  within  him,  and  while  he  was 
musing  the  fire  kindled,  and  at  the  last  he  spake  with  his  ton- 
gue." He  therefore  entered  with  zeal  upon  his  usual  course 
of  labor,  varied  in  form  by  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  place. 
On  the  Sabbath  days  he  declared  the  Gospel  in  the  syna- 

*  This  is  his  expression  ;  or,  as  in  the  margin  of  the  authorized  ver- 
sion, "  full  of  idols" — better  than  "  wholly  given  to  idolatry." 
\  Cicero.  %  Pausanias.  §  Petronius. 


ATHENS.  357 

gogues  to  the  Jews  and  proselytes  ;  and  during  the  week  he 
daily  frequented  the  market-place  at  the  foot  of  the  Acropolis 
and  the  Areopagus,  opening  the  truths  of  religion  to  the 
groups  of  loungers  and  the  casual  passers  by.  What  a  busy 
scene  was  here  !  Around  were  porticos  fitted  up  as  bazaars, 
for  the  sale  of  a  thousand  articles  of  commerce ;  here  and 
there  were  circular  sheds,  one  for  the  sale  of  slaves,  another 
of  provisions.  In  one  place  was  the  flesh  market,  in  another 
the  horse  market ;  here  the  mart  for  books,  there  the  stalls  of 
fruits  and  flowers.  Here  the  mind's  eye  beholds  the  apostle, 
in  humble  garb,  encircled  by  dealers  and  chapmen,  busy 
bodies  and  idlers,  listening  with  curiosity  to  the  strange  doc- 
trine flowing  from  a  tongue  eloquent  indeed,  but  which  to  the 
quick  Athenian  ear,  perhaps  betrayed  a  provincial  accent. 
The  stranger  was  clearly  no  common  man.  He  appeared  to 
possess  high  gifts  of  nature  and  attainments  of  human  learn- 
ing ;  for  he  could  return  a  quick  and  ready  answer  to  the 
most  astute  cavillers  ;  and  those  who  listened  caught  felicitous 
allusions  to  and  quotations  from  their  own  poets.  He  was 
sure  to  lack  no  audience  there ;  for  "  all  the  Athenians  and 
the  strangers  that  were  there,"  says  Luke,  "  spent  their  time 
in  nothing  else  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new  thing." 
This  character  of  them  is  abundantly  sustained  by  ancient 
writers.  Demosthenes  observes,  in  almost  the  same  words, 
"  We  Athenians  stay  at  home  doing  nothing,  always  delaying, 
and  making  decrees,  and  asking  in  the  market  if  there  be  any- 
thing new."  The  love  of  gossiping  and  news  among  this 
mercurial  people  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  there  were  at 
Athens  regular  gossiping  houses,  devoted  to  the  accommoda- 
tion of  persons  who  met  together  to  hear  and  tell  news. 
These  may  have  answered  in  some  measure  to  our  coffee  shops, 
and  it  is  stated  that  there  were  three  hundred  and  sixty  of 
them  in  Athens.  Others  resorted  for  exchange  of  news  to  the 
shops  of  the  surgeons  and  the  barbers. 

In  such  a  place,  and  among  such  a  people,  the  zeal  of  the 
apostle  could  not  fail,  sooner  or  later,  to  bring  him  into  col- 
lision with   the  prevailing  system  of  idolatry.     His  strange 


358  FIFTIETH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

doctrine,  set  forth  with  so  much  ability,  learning,  and  elo- 
quence, attracted  public  observation,  and  even  the  Epicureans 
and  Stoics,  loitering  about  in  learned  leisure,  did  not  deem  it 
beneath  their  dignity  to  contend  with  so  able  a  disputant. 


FIFTIETH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

PAUL    ON   mars'   HILL. ACTS   XVII.    22-34. 

The  Epicurean  and  Stoic  philosophers  who  encountered 
Paul  in  the  market-place,  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  dis- 
appointed that  they  could  not  draw  him  into  the  sophistical 
subtleties  of  disputation  :  and  that,  however,  tempted  into 
such  perilous  bye-paths,  and  tried  in  the  wisdom  of  words,  he 
adhered  mainly  to  the  enforcement  and  illustration  of  his  great 
doctrine,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  come  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners ;  and  that  his  quality  and  mission  had  been  shown 
by  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  whereby  He  had  become 
the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept. 

The  Epicureans  treated  this  with  some  scorn,  saying  to  one 
another,  "  What  doth  the  babbler  mean  ?"  The  Stoics,  as  if 
they  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  his  meaning,  observed  to  him, 
— "  Thou  seemest  to  be  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods !"  This, 
the  sacred  historian  informs  us,  was  "because  he  preached 
unto  them  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection  ;"  meaning,  it  would 
seem,  that  these  two  words,  so  frequent  from  his  lips,  were 
taken  by  them  for  names  of  the  gods,  male  and  female,  Jesus 
and  Anastasis  (the  resurrection),  whose  worship  he  proposed 
to  their  acceptance.  Not  that  they  were  so  stupid  as  to  take 
Anastasis  for  the  proper  name  of  a  person,  but  because  the 
idea  was  familiar  to  their  minds  of  erecting  altars  to  qualities 
and  conditions;  and  we  know  that  there  were  in  Athens, 
altars  to  Health,  Peace,  Fame,  Modesty,  Impetuosity,  Per- 
suasion, Democracy,  and  the  like. 

A  perilous  danger  lurked  darkly  in  the  imputation  that  he 


PAUL  ON  mars'  hill.  359 

was  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods.  The  principle  bearing 
upon  this  matter,  which  was  lately  explained,  had  its  origin 
in  Athens,  and  was  still  enforced  there.  No  people  were  more 
courteous  and  accommodating  than  they  to  the  worship  of 
other  nations.  They  had,  indeed,  at  this  time  become  anxious 
to  enrol  as  their  own  all  the  gods  of  good  repute  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  But  still,  the  introduction  of  any  new  god 
was  a  matter  of  state  privilege,  and  it  was  still  death  for  any 
private  person  to  introduce  the  worship  of  any  god  that  had 
not  been  publicly  recognized.  It  was  under  this  law  that  Soc- 
rates had  been  tried  and  condemned,  on  the  ground  that  he 
taught  the  worship  of  strange  gods. 

The  tribunal  that  condemned  him  was  called  the  Areopa- 
gus— from  its  place  of  session  being  upon  the  hill  so  named, 
— translated  Mars  Hill.  This  hill  was  sufficiently  noticed 
last  evening.  The  court  was  composed  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  in  Athens ;  and  in  public  estimation  was  regard- 
ed as  the  most  august  tribunal,  not  only  of  Athens,  but  of 
Greece,  if  not  of  the  civilized  world.  The  eminent  men  were 
wanting;  but  the  tribunal  subsisted,  and  its  members  were 
still  persons  of  weight  and  dignity.  Its  ancient  functions 
were  also  in  the  main  preserved;  for  Athens  was  allowed  after 
the  Roman  conquest  of  Greece  to  retain  its  freedom,  with  its 
old  laws,  and  tribunals,  and  magistrates,  though  necessarily 
subject  to  the  imperial  edicts.  This  court  had  still,  then,  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  determining  what  objects  of  worship 
should  be  admitted,  and  of  inflicting  punishment  upon  inno- 
vators. The  court  met  for  three  consecutive  days  in  every 
month ;  and  when  it  next  met,  Paul  was  arrested,  and  taken 
up  the  steps  leading  to  the  platform  on  the  Areopagus,  where 
the  court  was  then  sitting.  It  has,  indeed,  been  questioned 
whether  or  not  the  apostle  was  formally  arraigned ,  as  a  setter 
forth  of  strange  gods,  before  the  tribunal  seated  on  the  hill. 
This  must  remain  doubtful,  but  the  balance  inclines  to  the  af- 
firmative ;  and  it  is  hard  to  see  how  such  a  court  as  this  could 
entertain  the  matter  at  all  but  in  its  judicial  capacity.  It  may 
be  discerned  also  that  Paul  speaks  with  a  clear  consciousness 


360  FIFTIETH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

of  the  results  of  an  adverse  issue  on  the  point  really  involved. 
"Whatever  view  be  taken  of  this,  there  can  be  but  one  opinion 
as  to  the  oration  of  the  apostle, — though,  altogether  admira- 
ble as  it  is,  the  form  in  which  it  has  reached  us  seems  to  be 
only  a  compendium  or  summary  of  his  entire  argument. 

The  delicacy  of  the  opening  words  is  entitled  to  attention. 
While  Paul  is  willing  to  propitiate  the  good  will  of  the  judges 
es,  he  remembers  his  own  djgnity  as  an  apostle,  and  the  grav- 
ity of  the  tribunal  before  which  he  stands ;  and  although,  on 
the  one  hand,  careful  to  avoid  any  ground  of  offence,  he  takes 
care,  on  the  other,  to  say  nothing  which  can,  by  the  most 
distant  implication,  be  taken  to  sanction  the  evil  worship  of 
the  heathen.  Hence  with  admirable  discretion  he  chooses  a 
form  of  words  that  may  be  taken  as  a  compliment  of  the  high- 
est order,  while  it  may  also  be  understood  to  convey  a  delicate 
reproof  of  excessive  veneration  for  many  gods.  No  transla- 
tion can  offer  this  alternative  of  sense  in  the  same  word.  Our 
translators  have  chosen  the  bad  sense  :  "  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I 
perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious"  But  mod- 
ern translators  prefer  the  better  sense,  seeing  that  it  was  the 
object  of  the  apostle  not  to  irritate  his  hearers,  but  to  induce 
them  to  listen  to  him,  "  Ye  are  exceedingly  devout,"  or,  "  de- 
vout overmuch."  He  then  addresses  himself  to  the  charge 
that  he  was  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods.  To  this  he 
pleads  "  not  guilty."  He  says,  "  As  I  was  passing  by,  and 
beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription, 
To  the  unknown  God."  It  is  asserted  that  there  were  many 
altars  consecrated  to  unknown  deities  at  Athens,  for  when  any 
public  calamity  was  not  removed  by  the  invocation  of  the  gods 
known  to  the  laws,  it  was  customary  to  let  the  victims  loose 
into  the  fields,  or  along  the  public  ways,  and  wherever  they 
stopped  there  to  sacrifice  them  "  to  the  propitious  unknown 
god."  It  has  been  urged  with  great  earnestness  that  among 
these,  or  apart  from  these,  there  must  have  been  an  altar  to 
Jehovah,  as  the  unknown  god.  It  certainly  might  be  so,  for 
the  Greeks  regarded  the  god  worshipped  at  Jerusalem  as  pe- 
culiarly hidden,  mysterious,  and  unknown,  his  very  name 


PAUL    ON    MARS     HILL.  361 

being  a  cherished  mystery  among  his  worshippers.  They  were 
not  unlikely  to  have  set  up  an  altar  to  him  at  or  about  the 
time  they  gave  a  statue  to  his  high  priest ;  and  if  they  did 
this,  they  could  hardly  describe  him  otherwise  than  as  the  un- 
known god,  for  if  they  had  applied  for  his  name  it  could  not 
have  been  imparted  to  them.  Still,  we  do  not  see  the  need 
of  this.  If  the  Athenians  did  receive  relief  in  calamity,  it 
could  not  have  been  from  their  own  idols,  which  were  "no- 
thing." It  could  only  have  been  from  the  one  true  God ; 
and  the  altar  they  set  up  to  the  God  who  had  delivered  them, 
and  who  was  to  them  an  unknown  god,  was  virtually  to  Him. 
Paul  had,  therefore,  a  perfect  right  to  appropriate  all  such  al- 
tars to  the  Lord.  In  these  altars  the  state  had  therefore,  how- 
ever unknowingly,  recognized  Him.  Taken  either  way,  it  is 
plain  that,  by  this  one  great  master-stroke,  Paul  shows  him- 
self clear  of  the  charge  of  declaring  a  god  not  acknowledged 
by  the  laws  of  Athens,  or  of  the  empire, — "  Him  whom  ye 
worship  as  the  unknown  God,  declare  I  unto  you." 

Having  thus  skilfully  opened  his  case,  Paul  proceeded  with 
his  statement ;  and  it  is  very  safe  to  say  that  in  all  the  choicest 
oratory  of  the  heathen  world  there  is  nothing  to  compare  with 
the  splendor,  majesty,  and  dignity  with  which  he  entered  upon 
his  explanation  ;  and  the  felicity  is  no  less  admirable  than  the 
boldness  with  which  he  refers  to  the  scene  by  which  he  was 
surrounded.  The  court  of  the  Areopagus  was  uncovered,  and 
above  him  was  only  the  canopy  of  heaven.  Around  him  was 
plain  and  mountain,  and  in  the  distance  was  the  expanse  of 
ocean.  Immediately  before  him  was  the  Acropolis,  with  the 
glorious  Parthenon,  and  the  colossal  statue  of  Minerva,  and  a 
thousand  other  images,  many  of  them  glittering  with  silver. 
How  impressively  then,  but  with  what  peril,  must  he  have  ut- 
tured  these  words :  "  God,  that  made  the  world,  and  all  things 
therein,  seeing  that  he  is  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  divelleth 
not  in  temples  made  with  hands  ;  neither  is  worshipped  with 
men's  hands,  as  though  He  were  in  need  of  anything,  seeing 
that  He  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things  ;  and  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 

vol.  iv.  16 


362  FIFTIETH    WEEK FRIDAY. 

the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed, 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation  ;  that  they  should  seek  the 
Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him,  and  find  Him, 
though  He  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us,  for  in  Him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being ;  as  certain  also  of  your 
own  poets  have  said,  '  For  we  are  also  his  offspring.'  Foras- 
much, then,  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to 
think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone, 
graven  by  art  and  man's  device." 

Many  persons  in  their  acquaintance  with  old  ideas  and  an- 
cient things,  have  been  apt  to  consider  that  the  apostle,  through- 
out his  whole  speech,  utters  truths  previously  unknown  to  the 
polite  and  learned  assembly  he  addressed.  But  this  would 
have  been  the  certain  ruin  of  his  cause.  Although  he  cites 
the  poets  but  once  or  twice,  the  fact  is  that  there  is  not  one 
of  his  statements,  separately  taken,  which  might  not  remind 
his  hearers  of  analogous  declarations  by  their  own  philosophers 
and  poets,  whose  evidence  he  could  have  adduced.  The  charm 
lies  in  the  consummate  skill  with  which  this  great  master  of 
reasoning  interweaves,  and  binds  up  these  indisputable  posi- 
tions, into  a  cogent  and  undeniable  introduction  to  the  really 
new  matter  he  was  about  to  produce. 

We  cannot  here  adduce  the  corroboratory  admissions  by  the 
heathen  writers.  But  in  regard  to  his  quotation  from  "  cer- 
tain poets  of  their  own,"  we  may  mention  that  he  is  judged 
to  refer  to  Aratus,  the  Cicilian,  and  therefore  a  countryman  of 
his  own,  and  to  Cleanthes,  the  stoic  of  Assos  in  Troas — for  in 
the  Phenomena  of  the  former,  and  in  the  Hymn  to  Jove  of 
the  latter,  the  corresponding  expressions  are  found.  We  give 
them  in  the  translation  furnished  by  Mr.  Lewin.* 

"  From  Jove  begin  we — who  can  touch  the  string, 
And  not  harp  praise  to  Heaven's  eternal  king? 
He  animates  the  mart  and  crowded  way, 
The  restless  ocean,  and  the  sheltered  bay. 
Doth  care  perplex  ?  is  lowering  danger  nigh  ? 
We  are  Ms  offspring,  and  to  Jove  we  fly."  Aratus. 

*  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  284. 


TAUL    ON   MARS'    HILL.  363 

"  Great  Jove !  most  glorious  of  the  immortal  band . 
"Worshipped  by  many  names  alone  in  might! 
Author  of  all !     Whose  word  is  Nature's  law ! 
Hail !     Unto  thee  may  mortals  lift  their  voice, 
For  we  thine  offspring  are.    All  things  that  creep 
Are  but  the  echo  of  the  voice  Divine." 

Cleanthes. 

The  words,  "  for  in  Him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being,"  are  also  regarded  by  some  as  a  quotation,  and  an  old 
iambic  to  the  same  effect  is  cited  by  commentators.  This, 
however,  may  have  been  by  a  Christian  writer,  and  founded 
upon  this  text.  But  the  sentiment  is  not  infrequent  in  an- 
cient writers,  and  a  large  number  of  parallel  quotations  might 
be  adduced. 

Having  thus  cleared  his  way,  Paul  proceeded  to  set  forth 
the  first  elements  of  the  Gospel,  as  a  new  development  of  the 
most  ancient  faith  known  to  men,  and  a  full  explication  of  the 
matter  charged  to  him  as  a  crime,  when  he  had  before 
"  preached  unto  them  Jesus  and  the  resurrection."  He  in- 
formed them  that  the  latter  was  no  goddess,  as  they  had  sup- 
posed. But  what  he  did  mean  to  teach  was — that  the  times 
of  ignorance  in  which  God,  where  worshipped  at  all,  was  wor- 
shipped as  an  "  unknown  God"  had  passed  ;  and  now  He  called 
upon  every  man  to  repent ;  for  all  men  were  to  rise  from  the 
dead,  of  which  an  earnest  had  been  given  in  the  resurrection 
of  that  man  whom  He  had  appointed  to  judge  the  world  in 
righteousness  at  the  last  day. 

At  this  "  some  mocked."  These  were  probably  the  Epicu- 
reans, who  denied  a  future  state  altogether,  and  to  whom 
therefore  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  must  have  seemed  ab- 
surd. Others  were  more  favorably  impressed  by  what  Paul 
had  said,  and  thought  the  matter  worthy  of  further  inquiry — 
these  may  have  been  partly  the  Stoics,  who  to  some  extent 
admitted  a  future  life,  and  still  more  assuredly  the  Platonists, 
of  whom  there  must  have  been  many  present,  though  they 
are  not  named  in  the  narrative.  The  tribunal  itself  must  have 
comprised  all  these  three  sects,  and  it  is  probably  its  collective 


364  FIFTIETH    WEEK — FRIDAY. 

decision  which  is  embodied  in  the  statement  that — "  Others 
said,  We  will  hear  thee  again  in  this  matter."  The  court  was 
in  fact  adjourned. 

There  were  some  minds  upon  which  Paul's  address  made  a 
fully  suitable  impression — some  souls  whom  the  Lord  allowed 
him  to  bear  away  in  his  spiritual  spoil  from  Mars'  Hill.  There 
were  several,  but  those  particularly  named  are  "Dionysius, 
the  Areopagite" — that  is,  one  the  members  of  that  august 
court  before  which  he  had  pleaded ;  and  "  a  woman  named 
Damaris."  His  labor,  therefore,  was  not  wholly  in  vain  ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  persons  thus  converted  formed  the 
nucleus  of  that  church  which  afterwards  existed  at  Athens, 
though  it  does  not  appear  that  Paul  ever  again  visited  that 
city.  He  quitted  it  soon,  probably  firm  in  the  conviction  that 
it  had  not  yet  become  a  ripened  field  of  labor,  and  that,  with 
so  many  more  promising  fields  around,  it  was  not  his  duty 
to  linger  there — the  less  as  he  had  not  come  there  with  any 
express  views  of  missionary  work. 

He  had  also  been  joined  by  Timothy  from  Berea.  He  came 
alone,  for  Silas,  in  the  critical  state  of  the  church  there,  had 
not  thought  it  advisable  to  come  away.  The  intelligence 
which  Timothy  brought,  and  for  which  he  waited,  deprived 
him  of  the  hope  he  had  cherished  of  being  soon  enabled  to 
return  to  Thessalonica.  He  heard  that  the  Jews  there  were 
still  exasperated  against  him,  and  bent  upon  his  destruction. 
Being  thus  prevented  from  going  himself,  and  yet  anxious  for 
the  spiritual  safety  of  a  flock  left  among  wolves  without  a 
shepherd,  he  deprived  himself  of  Timothy's  company,  and 
sent  him  to  Thessalonica.  He  had  no  one  else  to  send,  Luke 
being  at  Philippi,  and  Silas  at  Berea ;  and  although  he  might 
have  desired  to  send  one  to  whom  years  and  experience  might 
have  given  more  weight  and  authority,  he  knew  that  Timothy 
was  faithful  and  true,  and  wise  and  able  beyond  his  years. 
In  the  epistle  written  to  this  church  soon  after,  he  says  that 
when  he  "  could  no  longer  forbear,"  he  had  sent  "  Timothy, 
our  brother,  and  minister  of  God,  and  our  fellow  laborer  in 
the  gospel  of  Christ,  to  establish  you,  and  to  comfort  you  con- 


CORINTH, 


565 


cerning  your  faith."  It  is  from  this  epistle  that  we  gain  the 
knowledge  of  these  circumstances,  which  Luke  had  passed 
over  in  the  historical  narrative. 


FIFTIETH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 


CORINTH. ACTS  XVIII. 

The  scene  of  the  apostle's  labors  now  changes  to  Corinth. 
This  great  and  prosperous  city  was  at  this  time  the  metropolis 
of  Achaia — the  name  by  which  all  Greece  was  distinguished 
from  Macedonia.  It  lay  at  a  distance  of  forty  miles  from 
Athens,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  isthmus  which 
joined  the  Peloponnesus  to  the  mainland,  upon  an  elevated 
table-land,  at  the  foot,on  the  northern  side,  of  the  Acrocorinthus. 


This  was  a  mountain  nearly  half  a  mile  in  perpendicular 
height,  with  an  ascent  of  four  miles  to  the  top,  where  there 
was  a  fortress  surrounded  by  a  wall.  The  commercial  ad- 
vantages of  this  situation  were  incalculable ;  and  the  better 


366  FIFTIETH  WEEK — SATURDAY. 

to  realize  them,  there  was  a  port  on  each  side  of  the  isthmus, 
the  eastern  one  (Cenchrea)  being  nearly  nine  miles,  and  the 
other  (Lechseum)  being  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city.  From 
this  felicity  of  situation,  Corinth  had  by  this  time  recovered 
much  of  its  ancient  prosperity,  although  it  had  lain  in  ruins  a 
hundred  years,  until  restored  by  Julius  Csesar.  The  activity 
of  commerce,  the  wealth  which  such  activity  produces,  and 
the  luxury  which  abundant  wealth  engenders,  were  the  main 
characteristics  of  Corinth.  The  luxuriousness  was  shown  in 
the  ornate  style  of  the  public  edifices,  in  the  expensive  style 
of  living,  and  in  the  general  self-indulgent  looseness  of  man- 
ners. Corinth  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  dissolute 
city  in  Greeee ;  and  that  it  deserved  this  reputation  is  shown, 
not  only  by  many  of  the  allusions  in  the  two  epistles  which 
Paul  wrote  to  the  church  in  this  place  from  Rome,  but  from 
the  simple  fact  that  the  temple  of  Venus  here  boasted  of  the 
thousand  sacred  harlots,  who  screened  their  depravity  under 
the  cover  of  religious  rites. 

A  commercial  city  like  this  was  certain  to  attract  the  Jews 
in  large  numbers ;  and  at  this  time  their  number  was  unusu- 
ally great,  because  many  of  those  who  had  lately  been  banished 
from  Rome  had  come  to  this  place. 

The  banishment  of  the  Jews  from  Rome  by  the  emperor 
Claudius,  incidentally  alluded  to  by  Luke,  is  confirmed  by 
Suetonius,  who,  in  his  brief  summary  of  the  occurrences  of 
the  time,  says  :  "  The  Jews,  who  were  in  constant  commotion, 
Chrestus  being  the  leader,  he  banished  from  Rome."*  It  is 
likely  that,  for  Chrestus,  Christus  is  intended — this  sort  of 
error,  or  corruption  of  people's  names,  being  not  uncommon 
at  that  time.  Christus,  "  the  anointed,"  had  no  meaning  to 
one  who  never  heard  of  the  Messiah ;  whereas  Chrestus  (good) 
had  an  intelligible  significance.  A  Roman  historian  might 
easily  mistake  the  true  state  of  the  case ;  and,  while  the  Jews 
were  contending  about  Christ,  he  might  suppose  that  it  was 
under  him,  as  a  leader,  that  the  tumults  were  excited.     Chris- 

*  Judaeos,  impulsore  Chresto,  assidue  tumultuantes  Roma  expulit. — 
Suet.  Vit.  Claud,  xxv. 


CORINTH.  867 

tianity  seems  to  have  been  very  early  introduced  into  Rome, 
probably  by  some  of  the  converts  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  for, 
"strangers  from  Rome,  Jews  and  proselytes,"  are  expressly 
mentioned  among  Peter's  hearers  on  that  great  day ;  and  we 
have  repeatedly  seen  how  prone  the  Jews  in  foreign  cities 
were  to  raise  commotions  against  them,  to  the  disturbance  of 
the  public  peace.  It  was  probably  on  account  of  such  dis- 
turbances, in  which  the  name  of  Christus  was  continually 
heard,  that  the  emperor  issued  his  proclamation  commanding 
the  Jews  to  depart  from  Rome.  In  this  the  Jewish  Christians 
were  of  course  included  ;  for  these  were  in  fact  Jews  by  birth, 
appearance,  and  habits  of  life  ;  and  the  Romans  had  as  yet  no 
guage  for  difference  of  opinion  and  belief  between  them. 

Among  those  thus  expelled  from  the  imperial  city  was  a  tent- 
maker  named  Aquila,  a  native  of  Pontus,  who,  with  his  wife  Pris- 
cilla,  was  going  home  by  the  ordinary  maritime  route  across  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth,  when  he  was  induced,  probably  by  the 
prospects  of  a  lucrative  business  in  a  city  of  so  much  opulence, 
to  remain  there.  He  accordingly  took  a  house  and  workshop, 
and  commenced  his  tentmaking  occupation.  It  is  not  stated 
that  he  was  already  a  convert  to  Christianity ;  but  that  he 
was  such  is  extremely  probable. 

Paul  arriving  at  Corinth,  where  he  was  unknown  to  any, 
had  first  to  seek  a  lodging,  and  then  the  means  of  subsistence. 
He  was  happy  to  find  both  with  Aquila,  to  whom  the  marks 
of  his  trade,  and  when  he  saw  him,  of  his  nation,  induced  him 
to  apply.  With  Aquila  he  remained,  living  in  his  house,  and 
working  with  him  at  his  trade — that  is,  in  his  employment — 
during  the  whole  two  years  of  his  residence  at  Corinth.  In 
this  intercourse  a  Christian  friendship  grew  up  between  them, 
which  ended  only  with  the  apostle's  life,  during  which  he  al- 
ways evinced  the  highest  regard  for  Aquila  and  Priscilla ;  and 
Aquila,  on  his  part,  found  occasion  to  render  him  some  es- 
sential services. 

Being  thus  settled  with  these  good  friends,  Paul  soon  com- 
menced his  evangelical  labors.  He  preached  Christ  every 
Sabbath  day  in  the  synagogues.     During  the  other   days  his 


368  FIFTIETH    WEEK SATURDAY. 

constant  labor  considerably  abridged  his  opportunities,  as  it 
hardly  even  left  him  the  evening  leisure ;  for  there  was  a  scar- 
city at  that  time  through  Greece,  whereby  the  price  of  every- 
thing was  so  much  enhanced,  that  it  was  needful  for  him  to 
labor  "  night  and  day,"  to  provide  for  his  simple  wants  ;  for  at 
this  place,  during  all  his  stay,  he  rigidly  refused  all  assistance 
from  those  among  whom  he  distributed  the  word  of  life.  But 
even  his  labor  at  his  trade  afforded  opportunities  of  spiritual 
usefulness ;  for  as  he  spent  his  days  thus  among  the  workmen 
of  Aquila,  he  could  not  but  speak  to  them  continually  of 
the  great  matters  that  filled  his  own  mind,  and  that  under  the 
most  advantageous  circumstances.  The  doctrine  thus  received 
would  spread  like  leaven  among  their  families  and  connections ; 
and  as  no  man  can  be  always  at  work,  there  were  precious 
half  hours  in  which  he  might  visit  the  acquaintances  thus 
formed,  or  in  which  he  might  impart  "  the  glad  tidings  "  to 
the  friends  and  visitors  of  Aquila. 

Certain  it  is,  that  many  among  both  the  Jews  and  Greeks 
were  converted.  The  earliest  were  "  the  house  of  Stephanus," 
which  he  calls  "  the  first  fruits  of  Achaia."*  Another  convert, 
and  one  of  considerable  note,  was  Crispus,  a  ruler  of  the  syn- 
agogue; and  a  third  was  Gaius,  or  Caius,  with  whom  the 
apostle  on  a  future  occasion  lodged.f  All  these  were  bap- 
tized by  his  own  hand,  contrary  to  his  usual  custom, — for  he 
avoided  this,  lest  his  enemies  should  take  occasion  from  it  to 
allege  that  he  had  "  baptized  in  his  own  name,"  and  was  es- 
tablishing a  sect  of  Paulites  instead  of  Christians.  The  wis- 
dom of  the  precautions  taken  by  him  to  protect  himself  from 
misconstruction  in  both  the  respects  indicated,  must  be  very 
evident  to  those  who  read  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians.]; 

In  about  three  months,  Silas  and  Timothy  joined  Paul  at 
Corinth.  The  latter  brought  information  from  Thessalonica, 
which  was,  upon  the  whole,  satisfactory.  The  faith  of  the  con- 
verts had  remained  unshaken  by  the  persecutions  to  which 
they  had  been  exposed.  They  retained  "  a  good  remembrance  " 
of  him,  and  longed  to  see  him  again.     On  the  other  hand, 

*  Cor.  xvi.  15.  f  Rom.  xvi.  23.  %  Cor.  i.  14-17. 


CORINTH.  369 

some  irregularities  had  crept  in,  and  some  mistaken  notions, 
especially  as  regarded  Christ's  second  coming,  which  they  con- 
ceived to  be  close  at  hand.  All  this  induced  Paul  to  send  to 
them  his  first  epistle,  the  first  in  time  of  all  his  existing  epis- 
tles ;  and  not  long  after  a  second,  to  correct  some  further  mis- 
conceptions, which,  as  he  understood,  had  grown  out  of  the 
first.  Both  these  letters  are  introduced  in  the  names  of"  Paul, 
Silvanus,  and  Timotheus." 

They  also  brought  a  most  seasonable  supply  of  money  from 
"  the  churches  in  Macedonia,"  and  notably  from  the  consider- 
ate and  kind-hearted  Philippians.  This  was  not  only  greatly 
wanted,  to  supply  the  insufficiency  of  his  own  hand-work  in 
a  time  of  such  dearth,  but  probably  enabled  him  to  give  a  little 
more  time  to  his  evangelical  labors.  His  conduct  in  steadily 
refusing  to  accept  assistance  from  the  Corinthians,  afterwards 
exposed  him  to  some  animadversions,  from  which  he  com- 
pletely vindicates  himself  in  2  Cor.  xi.  7-12.  He  there  refers  to 
the  contributions  he  received  from  Macedonia,  to  prove  that 
he  had  shown  himself  willing  to  accept  such  assistance  when 
he  could  do  so  without  compromising  his  independence,  or 
exposing  his  disinterestedness  to  suspicion. 

Paul,  now  strengthened  by  the  presence  of  Silas  and  Timo- 
thy, pursued  his  spiritual  labors  with  increased  vigor ;  and  as 
the  Sabbath  was  the  only  day  he  could  spare  from  daily  toil, 
it  was  spent  chiefly  in  proclaiming  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  to  the 
Jews  in  their  synagogues.  This  awakened  vehement  opposi- 
tion ;  and  at  length  he  was  so  shocked  at  the  coarse  blasphe- 
mies they  showered  upon  that  honored  name,  that  he  confronted 
them  sternly,  and  shaking  his  raiment,  to  signify  that  he  cast 
off  all  responsibility  for  the  result,  he  said  :  "  Your  blood  be 
on  your  own  heads :  I  am  clean :  from  henceforth  I  will  go 
unto  the  Gentiles."  Then,  either  to  illustrate  this  determina- 
tion, or  to  avoid  the  rage  which  the  declaration  of  it  excited, 
he  went  into  a  house  close  by,  in  the  occupation  of  a  Gentile 
convert,  named  Justus.  He  seems  to  have  been  then  some- 
what discouraged  at  the  prospect  before  him  in  Corinth,  and 
appears  to  have  contemplated  a  withdrawal  from  the  city. 

16* 


,'370  FIFTIETH    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

But  he  was  sustained  by  a  vision  of  the  night,  in  which  the 
Lord  said  :  "  Be  not  afraid ;  but  speak,  and  hold  not  thy  peace 
for  I  am  with  thee,  and  no  man  shall  set  on  thee  to  hurt  thee  : 
for  I  have  much  people  in  this  city." 

This  was  quite  enough  for  Paul ;  and  he  pursued  his  course 
for  eighteen  months,  with  great  success  in  the  conversion  of 
souls  to  Christ,  and  without  any  material  interruption.  At 
length  a  new  proconsul  for  Achaia  arrived  at  Corinth.  This 
was  Gallio,  brother  of  Seneca  the  philosopher,  and  of  Mela,  the 
father  of  Lucan,  the  author  of  the  Pharsalia.  He  comes  down 
to  us  with  a  high  character  for  amiability  from  his  brother 
Seneca,  who  speaks  of  him  as  faultless, — as  one  "  whom  every 
one  loved  too  little,  even  he  who  loved  him  most."  On  his 
arrival,  the  Jews  seem  to  have  made  an  experiment  upon  the 
reputed  easiness  of  his  temper,  and  his  official  inexperience, 
by  endeavoring  to  extort  from  him  by  clamor  the  punishment 
of  the  apostle.  They,  therefore,  seized  his  person,  and  hur- 
ried him  clamorously  before  the  judgment  seat,  where  their 
charge  was — "  This  fellow  persuadeth  men  to  worship  God 
contrary  to  the  law."  But  Gallio  had  not  unprofitably  observ- 
ed the  commotions  of  this  kind  which  had  been  excited  by 
the  same  parties  at  Rome.  He  seems  to  have  been  aware  of 
the  nature  of  the  Jewish  opposition  to  Christianity,  and  it  has 
been  guessed  that  he  was  not  altogether  unacquainted  with 
the  Christian  doctrine.  Be  this  as  it  may,  he  did  not  call  upon 
the  apostle  to  make  any  answer  to  the  charge,  but  dismissed 
the  complaint  with  some  asperity,  as  a  matter  with  which  he, 
as  a  civil  magistrate,  had  no  concern.  "  If  it  were  a  matter 
of  wrong,  or  wicked  lewdness,  O  ye  Jews,  reason  would  that 
I  should  bear  with  you  :  But  if  it  be  a  question  of  words,  and 
flames,  and  of  your  law,  look  ye  to  it,  for  I  will  be  no  judge 
of  such  matters."  So  saying,  he  waved  them  contemptuously 
away.  But  as  they  were  slow  to  move,  the  mob  of  Greeks, 
who  hated  the  Jews,  and  sided  with  Paul,  if  only  because  he 
svas  accused  by  them,  began  to  handle  them  roughly.  They 
even  seized  their  mouth-piece  Sosthenes,  the  chief  ruler  of  the 
jynagogue,  and  gave  him  a  sound  beating  before  the  procon- 


AN    IGNORANCE.  371 

eul's  face.  This  was,  doubtless,  although  not  so  intended,  an 
affront  to  the  dignity  of  the  court.  But  as  it  was  a  step  in 
accordance  with  the  feeling  he  had  himself  manifested,  he  did 
not  think  proper  to  take  any  notice  of  it.  Thus  "  Gallio  cared 
for  none  of  these  things," — neither  for  the  accusation  of  the 
Jews,  nor  for  the  unauthorized  punishment  of  their  leader. 
And  this,  rather  than  as  an  expression  of  his  indifference  to 
all  serious  matters,  we  take  to  be  the  meaning  of  these  words. 


iFiftg-JFirsi  ttleek— Sunba£. 

AN    IGNORANCE. ACTS    XVIII.    17 XIX.    7. 

Very  wonderful  often,  and  very  various,  are  the  Lord's 
dealings  with  those  whom  He  would  bring  unto  himself. 
Some  he  draws  gently  with  the  cords  of  love ;  some  He  urges 
by  fright  and  terror  to  flee  to  Him  from  the  wrath  to  come  ; 
some  He  impels  by  his  scourging  judgments ;  and  some  He 
drives  with  the  whips  of  men.  This  last  seems  to  have  been 
the  case  with  Sosthenes,  that  ruler  of  the  synagogue  whom  we 
yesterday  beheld  so  active  against  Paul,  and  receiving  a  sub- 
stantial beating  before  Gallio's  tribunal  at  the  hands  of  the 
Corinthian  mob.  But  when  we  next  hear  of  this  person,  he 
is  not  only  a  convert,  but  a  companion  and  trusted  brother  at 
Ephesus  of  that  Paul  whose  life  he  had  sought  at  Corinth, 
The  apostle  even  unites  Sosthenes'  name  with  his  own  in  the 
inscription  of  his  first  epistle  to  the  church  in  that  city,  which 
epistle  was  probably,  indeed,  written  by  his  hand  at  the  dicta- 
tion of  Paul,  whose  manner  it  was  so  to  write  :  "  Paul,  called 
to  be  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  through  the  will  of  God,  and 
Sosthenes  our  brother,  unto  the  church  of  God  which  is  at 
Corinth."  How  strange  and  marvellous  it  seems  to  behold 
these  two  men,  who  had  both  been  persecutors  of  the  church 
in  times  and  places  far  apart,  now  laboring  strenuously  together 


372  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK — SUNDAY. 

to  build  up  that  which  they  had  once  sought  to  destroy.  As 
these  lines  were  penned,  Paul  could  not  but  deeply  feel  that  it 
was,  indeed,  "  the  will  of  God," — the  same  will  of  God  which 
had  made  him  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  had  made 
Sosthenes  a  minister  of  Christ's  word.  It  was  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  was  marvellous  in  his  eyes.  This  remarkabk 
analogy  in  their  spiritual  history  must  have  imparted  to 
Paul's  mind  a  peculiarly  sympathizing  interest  in  behalf  of 
Sosthenes. 

His  conversion  probably  took  place  during  Paul's  further 
residence  at  Corinth,  which  seems  to  have  been  for  about  a 
month.  He  then  took  his  departure,  as  he  intended  to  be 
present  at  the  next  feast — probably  that  of  Pentecost — at 
Jerusalem,  and  not  more  than  sufficient  time  remained  for  the 
journey.  On  his  deliverance  from  the  imminent  danger  he 
had  been  under,  Paul  had  taken  the  Nazarite  vow,  in  testi- 
mony of  his  thankfulness.  It  was  usual,  as  Josephus  informs 
us,  for  the  Jews,  on  their  recovery  from  severe  disease,  or  de- 
liverance from  any  great  peril,  to  take  the  vow  binding  them- 
selves to  abstain  from  wine,  and  let  their  hair  grow  for  thirty 
days.  By  the  law  on  the  subject,  as  stated  in  the  book  of 
Numbers,  the  vow  might  be  of  shorter  or  longer  duration ; 
and,  at  the  expiration  of  the  time,  the  devotee  shaved  his  head? 
and  offered  certain  appointed  sacrifices ;  but  as  these  could  not 
be  offered  out  of  Jerusalem,  those  who  took  this  vow  in  foreign 
parts,  made  their  offerings  at  their  next  visit  to  the  holy  city. 
At  the  eastern  port  of  Cenchrea,  where  he  prepared  to  embark 
for  Asia,  the  days  of  Paul's  vow  expired,  and  he  shaved  his 
head,  but  necessarily  deferred  his  offerings  till  he  should  reach 
Jerusalem.  Some  have  seen  so  much  difficulty  in  this  trans- 
action, that  they  transfer  the  vow  to  Aquila.  But,  besides  that 
the  vow  was  not  in  itself  improper,  it  might  be  an  object  with 
Paul,  now  proceeding  to  Jerusalem,  to  show,  by  the  offerings 
he  had  by  this  act  rendered  himself  liable  to  make  there,  that 
he  did  not,  as  injuriously  reported,  contemn  or  despise  their 
law,  but  was  himself,  as  a  Jew,  disposed  to  conform  himself  to 
it  on  every  proper  occasion.     This  could  be  better  evinced  by 


AN    IGNORANCE.  373 

an  obligation  voluntarily  incurred  than  in  any  other  way. 
Not  only  Silas  and  Timothy,  but  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  were 
the  apostle's  companions,  having,  it  would  seem,  purposed  tc 
settle  at  Ephesus.  On  reaching  that  place,  they  remained 
there  ;  but  Paul,  with  Silas  and  Timothy,  hastened  on  to 
Caesarea,  and,  landing  there,  reached  Jerusalem  in  time  for  the 
feast.  No  particulars  are  given  of  the  journey  or  the  visit,  ex- 
cept that  he  went  up  and  "  saluted  the  church,"  after  which  h6 
proceeded  to  Antioch,  from  which  he  had  so  long  been  absent. 
He  was  probably  attended  by  Timothy ;  but  Silas,  of  whom 
we  hear  no  more,  seems  to  have  remained  at  Jerusalem. 

After  spending  some  time  at  Antioch,  he  prepared  to  redeem 
a  promise  he  had  made  during  his  hasty  call  at  Ephesus  :  "  I 
will  return  again  unto  you,  if  God  will."  He  proceeded  thither 
through  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  in  order  to  revisit  the 
churches  formerly  established  in  those  parts. 
,  On  his  arrival  at  Ephesus,  Paul  of  course  sought  out  his 
old  friends  Aquila  and  Priscilla ;  and  he  listened  with  deep 
interest  to  the  account  which  they  gave  him  of  a  certain 
Alexandrian  Jew  named  Apollos,  who  had  arrived  at  Ephesus 
during  his  absence.  Having  deeply  studied  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, whence  he  is  described  as  "  mighty  in  the  Scriptures," 
Apollos  had  formed  correct  notions  of  the  Messiah  to  come  ; 
but  he  did  not  yet  know  that  He  had  come,  having  advanced 
no  further  than  John's  baptism  to  repentance ;  and  by  John 
he  had  perhaps  been  baptized.  Being  impressed  with  these 
views,  and  being  "fervent  in  the  Spirit,"  he  spoke  in  the 
synagogues,  and  arrested  attention  by  his  powerful  and  win- 
ning eloquence.  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  however,  perceived  the 
imperfect  state  of  his  knowledge,  and  having  sought  his  ac- 
quaintance, and  explained  to  him  "  the  way  of  God  more  per- 
fectly," they  showed  to  him  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  and 
that  in  Him  all  the  conclusions  he  had  been  himself  enabled 
to  deduce  from  the  Old  Testament  had  been  fulfilled.  He  re- 
ceived these  tidings  with  gladness  ;  and  from  that  time  his 
eloquent  tongue  found  a  nobler  and  more  animating  theme. 
The  Christ  of  God  was  no  longer  expected — He  had  already 


374  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK SUNDAY. 

come.  This  theme,  however,  he  did  not  enforce  at  Ephesus, 
for  it  was  his  purpose  to  proceed  to  Achaia.  On  learning 
this,  the  brethren  furnished  him  with  letters  of  introduction  to 
the  disciples  at  Corinth.  He  was  well  received  there  ;  and 
his  mastery  of  Scripture  enabled  him  to  render  great  help  in 
dealing  with  the  Jews,  showing  unanswerably  in  the  syna- 
gogues that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah. 

Paul  himself  met  with  twelve  persons  in  the  same  position 
as  that  which  Apollos  had  been  in  before  instructed  by  Aquila. 
But  he  seems  not  at  first  to  have  understood  that  they  were 
not  yet  Christian  disciples.  Thus,  among  other  questions,  he 
asked  them  if  they  had  yet  received  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
testified  some  amazement  at  this  question,  and  said,  "  We  have 
not  so  much  as  heard  whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost." 

This  seems  a  startling  declaration.  The  ignorance  thus 
candidly  avowed  was  excusable  in  them,  seeing  that,  as  after- 
wards appeared,  they  knew  only  the  baptism  of  John.  We 
have  no  such  excuse.  We  have  all  of  us  heard  that  there  is 
a  Holy  Ghost ;  and  this  is  perhaps  the  sum  of  the  knowledge 
concerning  Him  possessed  by  a  large  proportion  of  those  who 
call  themselves  Christians.  He  is  to  them  scarcely  more  than 
a  name,  an  expression,  a  form  of  speech.  Yet  surely  it  be- 
hoves us  to  know  Him  as  He  is  revealed  to  us  in  Scripture, 
and  as  He  stands  related  to  us  in  the  great  work  of  our  sal- 
vation. "  But  this  subject  is  mysterious !"  It  is  so  in  some 
parts ;  but  it  is  precisely  that  in  it  which  is  mysterious  that 
we  are  not  required  to  know,  and  that  is  not  practically  es- 
sential to  our  welfare.  We  may  not  be  able  to  explain  the 
precise  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  relation  to  the  other  per- 
sons in  the  blessed  Trinity.  His  personality  may  be  hard  to 
understand.  Even  the  nature  of  his  operations  upon  the  soul 
of  man  may  be  inscrutable  to  our  present  limited  capacity  of 
comprehension.  Indeed,  this  is  declared  in  the  memorable 
words :  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  nearest 
the  sound  thereof,  and  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  nor 
whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit" 
Our  ignorance  in  these  respects  will  not  be  laid  to  our  charge, 


AN    IGNORANCE.  375 

for  God  does  not  require  us  to  know  more  than  He  has  seen 
proper  to  reveal.  That  which  is  set  forth  in  these  matters,  are 
simply  facts  for  our  belief,  not  problems  for  our  solution.  And 
perhaps  the  simply  earnest  mind  likes  to  have  mysteries,  which 
it  cannot  at  present  grasp,  proposed  to  its  belief,  beholding  in 
them  an  earnest  of  that  heaven  where  all  will  be  made  plain. 
No,  perhaps  not  "  all"  but  all  that  is  now  too  hard  for  us  ; 
for  there  may  be,  and  probably  are,  mysteries  in  heaven,  see- 
ing that  there  is  but  One  Mind  to  which  "  all  things  are  plain 
and  open." 

They  who  labor  most  in  these  high  mysteries  are  not  there- 
by brought  nearer  to  God, — 

*  These  earthly  godfathers  of  heaven's  lights, 
That  give  a  name  to  every  fixed  star, 
Have  no  more  profit  of  their  shining  nights 

Than  those  that  walk,  and  wot  not  what  they  are." 

So  we  shall  never  be  asked  ;  it  will  never  be  essential  to  our 
well-being,  here  or  hereafter,  whether  we  can  explain  the  mys- 
tery of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  whether  we  have  received  Him 
in  all  his  blessings  and  influences. 

There  is  much  that  is  very  plain  which  it  concerns  us  greatly 
to  know.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  a  mere  quality  or  effluence. 
The  acts  ascribed  to  Him  are  personal  acts,  and  the  Scriptures 
personify  him  equally  with  the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  dis- 
tinguish Him  from  both.  We  are  baptized  into  his  name  no 
less  than  into  theirs,  and  the  apostolic  benedictions  are  given 
in  his  name  as  well  as  in  theirs.  But  He  has  his  special 
work  for  us — a  work  which  concerns  us  most  intimately.  It 
is  He  that "  teaches"  us ;  it  is  He  that  "  comes"  to  us ;  it  is  He 
that  "  reproves"  us  ;  it  is  He  that  "  guides"  us  ;  it  is  He  that 
"  speaks"  to  us  and  in  us ;  it  is  He  that  "  comforts"  us  ;  and 
it  is  He  that  "  glorifies"  us.*  He  "  helps  our  infirmities  ;"  He 
"  intercedes  for  us  with  groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered."} 
Let  us  therefore  take  heed  that  we  "  tempt"  not  the  Spirit  of 

*  John  xiv.  26  ;  xvi.  8,  13,  14.  f  Rom-  vm-  26- 


376  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK MONDAY. 

God ;  let  us  be  careful  that  we  do  uot  "  resist"  Him ;  let  us 
beware  lest  we  "  despise"  Him  ;  and,  above  all,  let  us  dread  to 
"  blaspheme"  his  Holy  Name,  for  that  is  the  inexpiable  sin,  the 
offence  hardly  to  be  forgiven  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to 
come.* 


FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— MONDAY. 

EPHESUS. ACTS  XIX.  1. 

Ephesus  now  became  the  centre  of  Paul's  missionary  labors, 
and  the  chief  seat  of  Christianity  in  Asia  Minor.  To  this  im- 
portant church,  in  and  for  which  he  had  long  labored,  Paul 
afterwards  addressed  an  invaluable  epistle,  during  his  impris- 
onment at  Rome.  Ephesus  was  also  in  later  years  the  scene 
of  John  the  apostle's  labors  and  last  residence,  and  the  chief 
of  the  "  seven  churches  in  Asia,"  to  which  the  apocalyptic 
messages  were  sent.  On  these  various  grounds  of  Christian 
interest  the  city  is  entitled  to  particular  attention. 

Ephesus  was  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Asia,  and  as 
such  the  residence  of  the  proconsul.  And  it  was  more  than 
this,  being,  in  fact,  the  most  important  city  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  the  principal  emporium  for  trade  with  the  East.  It  was 
called  "  the  Eye  of  Asia,"  or  rather  one  of  the  eyes,  Smyrna 
being  the  other ;  for  Ephesus  and  Smyrna,  both  of  them  on 
the  sea  coast,  and  both  great  commercial  marts,  at  the  distance 
of  about  forty  miles  from  each  other,  looked  forth  like  eyes 
from  the  projecting  forehead  of  this  peninsula.  Though  Greek 
in  its  origin,  it  was  half  Oriental  in  the  prevalent  worship  and 
the  character  of  its  inhabitants;  and  being  constantly  visited 
by  ships  from  all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  united  by 
great  roads  with  the  markets  of  the  interi  W,  it  was  the  com- 
mon meeting  place  of  the  various  characters  and  classes  of  men. 

The  city  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  Gulf  of  Samos,  upon  a 
plain  about  five  miles  long  from  east  to  west,  and  three  miles 
*  Acts  v.  9 ;  vii.  51.     Heb.  x.  29.     Mark  iii.  29. 


EPHESUS.  377 

broad  from  north  to  south.  On  ail  sides  except  on  the  west, 
which  lay  open  to  the  sea,  this  plain  was  shut  in,  like  a  sta- 
dium or  race-course,  by  the  precipices  of  enclosing  mountains. 
About  half  way  along  the  southern  side  of  the  plain  stood  a 
little  forward  the  hill  of  Prion,  famous  for  the  quarries  of 
beautiful  marble,  which  supplied  materials  for  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  city ;  and  opposite  to  it,  but  rather  more  to  the 
east,  arose  out  of  the  middle  of  the  plain  a  little  mount,  the 
seat  of  the  modern  village  of  Ayasaluck — probably  a  Turkish 
name,  though  generally  fancied  to  be  a  corruption  of  Greek 
words  signifying  "  the  holy  divine,"  in  honor  of  St.  John,  who 
passed  his  last  days  at  Ephesus.  This,  it  will  be  observed, 
lies  beyond  the  walls  of  ancient  Ephesus,  the  site  of  which  is 
wholly  forsaken  and  desolate,  and  its  ruins  buried  in  rubbish, 
and  overgrown  with  vegetation. 

At  its  north-east  corner,  the  plain  was  entered  by  the  river 
Cayster,  which  flowed  across  it  diagonally  to  the  south-west 
corner.  As  one  entered  the  broad  mouth  of  this  river  from 
the  sea,  after  proceeding  a  little  distance,  he  came  to  a  spacious 
natural  basin,  stretching  from  the  river  on  the  right  hand  to- 
wards the  south-east.  This  was  Panormus  (All-haven),  the 
celebrated  port,  the  busy  scene  of  the  commerce  of  all  nations, 
to  which  the  city  was  indebted  for  its  wealth — so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  Ephesus  owes  its  distinction  to  the  gradual  filling 
up  of  this  port  by  the  alluvium  brought  down  by  the  river. 
Already,  at  the  time  of  Paul's  residence,  this  had  become  a 
matter  of  great  anxiety  to  the  Ephesians ;  and  a  century  later? 
injudicious  attempts  to  avert  the  impending  evil  rendered  it 
more  speedy  and  inevitable. 

It  would  not  suit  this  place  to  describe  the  city  in  detail, 
after  the  ancient  accounts  ;  nor  even  to  indicate  the  principal 
objects  of  interest  within  its  walls.  It  will  suffice  to  notice 
a  few  matters  which  are  more  or  less  connected  with  the  sub- 
jects before  us. 

The  famous  temple  of  Diana  was  not  only  the  most  glori- 
ously conspicuous  object  in  the  city,  but  was  counted  as  one  of 
the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.    It  was  built  at  the  expense 


378  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK MONDAY. 

of  all  the  Greek. cities  in  Asia,  replacing  another  of  great  mag- 
nificence, which  had  been  set  on  fire  by  the  fanatic  Eratos- 
tratus  on  the  night  that  Alexander  the  Great  was  born.*  It 
proceeded  slowly,  and  was  not  completed  in  less  than  220 
years.  It  stood  at  the  head,  that  is,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the 
port  Panormus,  and,  being  constructed  of  the  purest  marble, 
is  said  to  have  gleamed  like  a  meteor  in  the  astonished  eyes 
of  those  on  board  any  vessel  entering  the  port.  Being  built 
upon  marshy  ground,  the  foundations  were  laid,  with  great 
care  and  at  large  cost,  upon  well-rammed  charcoal  and  wool. 
Upon  these  foundations  the  first  superstructure  was  a  basement 
of  considerable  height,  ascended  by  a  grand  flight  of  steps, 
which  may  still  be  traced ;  and  upon  this  platform  was  erected 
the  temple,  425  feet  long  and  220  broad,  surrounded  by  120 
marble  columns,  60  feet  high,  each  the  gift  of  a  king,  of 
which  36  were  beautifully  sculptured,  one  from  the  hands  of 
the  famous  Scopas. 

This  area  is  almost  double  that  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in 
London,  for  although  the  body  of  that  church  is  longer  (500 
feet),  it  is  not  half  the  width  (100  feet).  In  reality,  however, 
there  is  no  comparison  between  the  ancient  temples  and  the 
churches  and  cathedrals  of  Christendom.  But  it  must  not  be 
imagined  that  all  this  vast  space  was  covered  in,  or  that  this 
or  other  famous  temples  of  antiquity  bore  any  analogy  to 
modern  structures.  Like  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  they  were 
colonnades,  erected  as  subsidiary  decorations  around  the  cell 
which  contained  the  idol,  the  greater  part  of  the  enclosed  space 
being  open  to  the  sky, — that  is  to  say,  all  but  the  colonnades 
surrounding  the  area,  and  the  chapel  or  cell  containing  the 
idol.  The  representations  on  coins,  usually  appealed  to  for 
the  form  of  the  temple,  do  not,  we  apprehend,  represent  its 
exterior  aspect,  but  merely  that  of  the  chapel  in  which  the 
idol  was  enshrined,  and  through  the  open  doors  of  which  it 
appeared.  For  proof  of  this,  we  may  point  to  the  fact  that  in 
some  of  these  representations  it  is  seen  to  be  covered  in  with  a 
sloping  roof.  The  interior  of  the  temple  was  no  less  magnifi- 
*  Reminding  one  of  Martin  and  the  York  Minister. 


EPHESUS.  379 

cent.  The  roof  was  supported  by  columns  of  green  jasper, 
eight  of  which  may,  at  this  day,  be  seen  in  the  mosque  (once 
church)  of  St.  Sophia,  at  Constantinople,  whither  they  were 
removed  by  the  Emperor  Justinian,  after  the  temple  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  Goths.  The  altar,  richly  sculptured,  was  the 
work  of  Praxiteles,  and  here  and  there  were  statues  from  the 
chisels  of  the  most  eminent  sculptors.  Against  the  walls  were 
the  finest  paintings  in  the  world,  the  master-pieces  of  Apelles 
and  Parrhasius,  both  natives  of  the  city.  The  sacred  precincts 
of  the  temple,  to  the  extent  of  a  furlong  from  the  building, 
offered  an  inviolable  sanctuary  to  all  who  sought  an  asylum 
there.  Indeed,  so  high  was  the  sanctity  of  the  place  that,  in 
the  absence  of  banks  and  profitable  investments,  kings  and 
great  persons  were  glad  to  deposit  their  valuables  within  its 
walls,  whence  the  treasures  it  contained  were  immense  be- 
yond conception.  In  short,  there  never  was  perhaps  any 
temple  which  was  at  once  the  object  of  so  much  admiration, 
enthusiasm,  and  superstition. 

Meanwhile,  the  cynosure  of  the  temple — the  ultimate  object 
of  all  this  splendor  and  veneration — was  an  ugly,  old,  black 
image  of  wood.  We  must  not  think  of  Diana  (Artemis)  of 
the  Ephesians  as  the  "  huntress,  chaste  and  fair,"  of  Grecian 
poetry  and  sculpture.  There  is,  in  fact,  little  analogy  either  in 
form  or  ascribed  qualities  between  them,  and  it  required  all 
the  Grecian  ingenuity  to  identify  the  two.  It  seems  to  have 
been  some  ancient  Asiatic  divinity  whose  worship  the  Greek 
colonists  found  established  in  these  parts,  and  which  they 
adopted,  calling  her  Artemis,  from  some  fancied  resemblance 
to  their  own  goddess  of  that  name.*     Her  original  character 

*  We  adhere  to  this  opinion,  notwithstanding  that,  in  a  work  issued 
as  these  sheets  are  going  through  the  press,  we  find  Niebuhr  de- 
claring, "Artemis  is  a  gennine  Greek  goddess,  but  her  temple  at 
Ephesus  was  specially  revered  by  the  Persians,  as  eastern  nations 
often  showed  a  partiality  towards  foreign  religions  :  they  altered  the 
ceremonial  of  the  temple,  and  the  employment  of  eunuchs  in  its  ser- 
rice  is  of  Persian  origin." — Lectures  on  Ancient  Ethnography  and 
geography ;  i.  211. 


380 


FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK MONDAY. 


as  an  impersonation  of  nature — the  prolific  mother  of  lift     is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  her  image  represented  her  with  m.ny 

breasts.  The  whole  figure  had 
much  resemblance  to  that  of  a 
mummy.  The  head  bore  a 
mural  crown ;  and  the  lower 
part  of  her  body,  which  ended 
in  a  point,  like  a  pyramid  turned 
upside  down,  was  covered  with 
the  figures  of  various  animals. 
It  is  remarked,  however,  that 
the  figure  varies  considerably  in 
details,  in  the  different  represen- 
tations of  it  in  coins  of  Ephesus, 
whence  Mr.  Akerman  ingeni- 
ously conjectures  that  "  the  vul- 
gar were  not  allowed  to  approach 
too  near  this  grotesque  but  time- 
honored  figure,  and  that  the 
artists  of  antiquity  sometimes 
drew  on  their  fancies  for  the 
representation  of  her."*  We 
know,  indeed,  that  the  small  shrine  in  which  it  stood  within 
the  temple  was  concealed  by  a  curtain  in  front.  The  example 
which  we  give  is  very  interesting,  for  it  represents  the  idol 
in  her  cell  or  shrine,  upon  the  pediment  of  which  we  observe 
the  representation  of  two  figures  worshipping  at  an  altar. 

It  was  popularly  believed  to  have  fallen  from  heaven,  a  pre- 
tension advanced  in  favor  of  divers  other  ancient  and  uncouth 
images.  This  might  suggest  that  it  was  originally  an  aerolite : 
but  it  seems  to  be  established  that  it  was  of  wood,  some  say 
ebony,  others  vinewood,  and  it  was  preserved  from  decay  by 
resinous  gums  inserted  into  cavities  made  for  the  purpose. 
The  great  temple  of  Diana  has  wholly  disappeared,  and  even 
its  site  cannot  with  any  certainty  be  determined.  Its  ma- 
*  Numismatic  Illustrations  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  49. 


EPHESUS.  381 

terials  were  probably  carried  off  for  comparatively  modern 
buildings ;  and  the  soil  of  the  valley  being  raised  by  the  allu- 
vium of  the  river,  commonly  covers  many  old  substructions. 
Mr.  Hamilton,  who  spent  several  days  at  Ephesus,  thinks  that 
"  the  site  of  the  great  temple  is  in  some  massive  structures 
near  the  western  extremity  of  the  town,  which  overlook  the 
swamp  or  marsh  where  was  the  ancient  harbor.  The  place  is 
immediately  in  front  of  the  port,  raised  upon  a  base  thirty  or 
forty  feet  high,  and  approached  by  a  grand  night  of  steps,  the 
ruins  of  which  are  still  visible  in  the  centre  of  the  pile."* 
Brick  arches,  and  other  works,  have  been  raised  on  various 
portions  of  the  walls ;  but  these,  erroneously  taken  by  some 
earlier  travellers  for  remains  of  the  ancient  subscriptions,  sup- 
ply no  illustration  of  the  antiquity  of  the  arch,  being  appar- 
ently the  work  of  the  Christians,  who,  after  the  destruction  of 
the  temple,  and  the  removal  of  its  columns,  built  a  church 
upon  the  ruins. 

The  "  theatre  "  of  Ephesus  was  the  largest  structure  of  the 
kind  ever  erected  by  the  Greeks,  and  was  capable  of  seating 
fifty  thousand  persons.  It  was  excavated  from  the  sloping 
side  of  Mount  Prion,  looking  towards  the  west,  and  was  faced 
with  a  portico.  The  exterior  diameter  was  660  feet.  Like  all 
other  ancient  theatres,  it  had  no  roof,  but  the  spectators  pro- 
tected themselves  from  the  sun  by  head-gear  adapted  for  a 
screen,  or  by  holding  a  light  parasol  in  their  hand,  or  some- 
times a  kind  of  tarpaulin  was  drawn  across  the  theatre  itself. 
Here  the  scenic  representations  were  exhibited,  and  here  were 
held  the  assemblies  of  the  people.  This  theatre  is  still  dis- 
coverable by  its  ruins,  which  are  of  immense  grandeur.  Its 
interest  to  us  arises  from  the  certainty  with  which  it  can  be 
identified  as  the  scene  of  one  of  Paul's  most  perilous  conflicts. 

The  theatre  lay  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  temple  ;  and  the 
road  between  the  two  was  crossed  by  a  wide  street,  which 
traversed  the  entire  length  of  the  city.  Upon  the  south  side 
of  this  street,  about  midway  between  the  temple  and  the  east- 
ern wall  of  the  city,  and  at  the  northern  base  of  Mount  Prion, 
*  Researches  in  Asia  Minor,  ii.  24 


382  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK MONDAY. 

was  the  stadium  or  circus.  This  was  685  feet  long,  and  200 
wide.  The  rows  of  seats  on  the  south  were  excavated  from 
the  hill,  and  those  on  the  north  towards  the  plain  were  sup- 
ported on  arches.  The  eastern  end  was  rounded  like  a  theatre, 
and  the  entrances  were  at  the  opposite  end.  This  was  the 
arena  in  which  the  Ephesian  population  witnessed  the  foot- 
races, the  wrestling,  and  the  pugilistic  combats.  These  could 
hardly  fail  to  come  under  the  notice  of  the  apostle,  and  he  may 
be  supposed  to  have  had  them  in  mind  when  he  wrote  from 
this  place  to  the  Corinthians  the  memorable  words,  which  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  illustrate.*  Here  also  were  en- 
acted the  beast-fights,  either  between  wild  beasts  and  trained 
combatants,  armed,  who  fought  for  pay ;  or  condemned  crim- 
inals, who  were  allowed  no  means  of  defence  against  the  ani- 
mals. To  these,  called  "  the  last  victims,"  as  usually  exposed 
at  the  end  of  the  games,  Paul,  writing  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  scene,  compares  himself  and  other  champions  of  the 
Gospel — "  I  think  that  God.  hath  set  forth  us,  the  apostles, 
last,  as  men  appointed  to  death  ;  for  we  have  been  made  a 
spectacle  unto  the  world,  and  to  angels,  and  to  men."f  Fur- 
ther on  in  the  same  epistle,  he  says  :  "  If  after  the  manner  of 
men,  /  have  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus"\  It  has  been 
questioned  whether  he  here  speaks  figuratively  of  contest  with 
men  savage  as  wild  beasts,  or  of  some  real  combat  with  the 
beasts  in  the  circus.  We  incline  to  the  latter  view,  for  as  a 
metaphor,  it  is  awkward,  and  it  has  all  the  manner  of  a 
real  and  not  a  suppositious  case.  We  see  no  difficulty  in  so 
taking  it.  He  had  deliverances  as  extraordinary  as  this,  and 
the  silence  of  the  historian  proves  nothing ;  for  we  know  that 
he  passes  over  much  which  Paul  himself  declares  that  he  had 
suffered ;  and  as  the  narrative  of  a  residence  of  three  years  is 
comprised  in  a  few  verses,  many  incidents  are  necessarily  omit- 
ted. 

*  Evening  Series.    Forty-Fourth  "Week. — Sunday. 

f  1  Cor.  iv.  9.  %  I  Cor.  xv.  22. 


THREE  YEARS*  LABOR.  383 

FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THREE  YEARS'  LABOR. ACTS  XIX.  10-22. 

As  Paul  had  sought  out  his  friends  Aquila  and  Priscili* 
on  his  first  arrival  at  Ephesus  ;  and  as  the  former  had,  doubt- 
less, by  this  time  established  himself  in  his  proper  business 
of  tent  making,  we  may  conclude  that,  as  at  Corinth,  the  apos- 
tle took  up  his  lodging  with  him,  and  sought  employment  in 
his  workshop.  That  he  thus  provided  for  his  own  maintenance, 
on  the  same  principles  as  in  that  city,  seems  to  be  clearly  de- 
ducible  from  his  own  intimations.  Thus  in  writing  from  this 
place  to  the  Corinthians,  he  says  :  "Even  unto  this  present 
hour,  we  both  hunger  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buf- 
feted, and  have  no  certain  dwelling-place  ;  and  labor,  worlcing 
with  our  own  hands."*  And  some  time  afterwards,  he  remind- 
ed the  Ephesians, — "  Yea,  ye  yourselves  know,  that  these  hands 
have  ministered  to  my  necessities,  and  to  them  that  were  with 
me.f  From  this  it  appears,  that  here,  as  at  Thessalonica, 
Corinth,  and  most  other  places,  he  pursued  the  same  course 
of  industry ;  and  as  we  now  learn,  the  proceeds  of  his  labor 
were  made  available  not  only  for  his  own  support,  but  for  that 
of  some  of  his  immediate  companions.^; 

At  his  first  brief  call  at  Ephesus,  the  field  of  labor  among 
the  Jews  had  seemed  very  promising,  and  they  manifested 
some  eagerness  of  desire  to  hear  his  doctrine  more  fully. 

Hence  his  conditional  promise  to  return  to  them ;  and,  as 
we  are  thus  prepared  to  expect,  we  find  him  engaged  during 
the  first  three  months  after  his  return  in  reasoning  with  the 
Jews  in  their  synagogue,  and  pressing  the  Gospel  upon  their 
acceptance.  Many  received  it :  but  many  were  hardened ; 
and  finding  that  the  latter  were  going  rapidly  from  passive 

*  1  Cor.  iv.  11,  12.  t  Acts  xx.  34. 

%  It  should  also  be  noted  that  even  at  the  present  day,  strangers 
coming  to  reside  for  any  length  of  time  in  an  Eastern  city  are  regarded 
with  mistrust,  and  find  their  intercourse  much  limited,  if  they  live 
without  employment,  and  exhibit  no  ostensible  means  of  subsistence 


384  FIFTY-FIRST   WEEK TUESDAY. 

disbelief  into  active  hostility,  and  that  they  began  to  speak 
evil  of  the  way  of  salvation  by  Jesus  which  he  opened,  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  abandon  his  attendance  at  the  synagogue,  and 
withdraw  the  converts  from  the  unpleasantness  of  their  abuse, 
and  the  influence  of  their  persuasion  and  example.  In  those 
early  times,  there  were  no  places  specially  set  apart  for  relig- 
ious meetings ;  the  disciples  met  in  any  suitable  room  which 
might  be  in  the  house  of  any  one  of  their  number ;  and  if  the 
congregation  was  too  large  for  any  such  room,  the  use  of  some 
other  suitable  place  was  obtained  by  interest  or  hire.  In  this 
case,  they  obtained  the  use  of  the  large  school-room  of  one 
Tyrrannus,  who  may,  or  may  not  have  been  himself  a  convert. 
If  not,  it  was  probably  hired — just  as  the  school-room  at  the 
corner  of  the  street  in  which  this  is  written,  is  very  frequently 
let  out  for  lectures  in  the  evening  after  school  hours.  We 
suppose  this  was  the  case  here ;  for  Tyrrannus  would  only  want 
his  school-room  by  day ;  and  Paul,  although  he  preached 
there  daily,  would  only  require  it  in  the  evening,  as  both  he 
and  the  disciples  were  occupied  during  the  day  time  in  their 
various  employments. 

In  this  school-room  the  apostle  for  two  years  diligently  set 
forth  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  all  who  chose  to  attend, 
whether  Jews  or  Greeks.  In  a  city  like  Ephesus,  a  preacher 
so  eloquent  and  so  cogent  in  reasoning  as  Paul,  could  not  be 
hid ;  his  reputation  spread  quickly  ;  and  soon  the  room  be- 
came crowded,  not  only  with  Ephesians,  but  with  strangers 
from  all  the  country  round,  and  indeed  from  distant  parts, 
who  were  continually  resorting  to  the  city  on  business  or 
pleasure,  and  who,  like  most  provincials  on  visiting  a  metropol- 
itan city,  were  more  eager  than  even  the  residents  to  see  and 
to  hear  things  new.  Thus  Paul  enabled,  through  those  who 
thus  heard  him,  and  then  returned  to  their  homes,  to  preach 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  far  around,  without  quitting  Ephesus. 
We  would  not  contend,  indeed,  that  during  the  two  or  three 
years  of  his  stay,  he  never  quitted  the  city.  There  is  indeed 
some  possibility  that  he  made  a  short  trip  across  the  ^Egean 
Sea  to  Corinth ;  but  the  expressions  which  he  himself  uses  to 


THREE  YEARS'  LABOR.  385 

the  Ephesians  at  a  subsequent  period,  are  unfavorable  to  the 
idea  that  he  was  frequently,  or  for  any  length  of  time,  absent 
from  the  city.     But  although  it  was  quite  possible  in  such  a 
place  as  Ephesus  that,  as  declared,  "  all  that  dwelt  in  Asia 
heard  the  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  without  his  leaving  the 
city  at  all ;  and  that  without  this,  he  might  have  done  what 
one  of  his  heathen  opponents  accuses  him  of — that  "  not  alone 
at  Ephesus,  but  almost  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath 
persuaded  and  turned  away  much  people,  saying  that  there  be 
no  gods  that  are  made  with  hands," — yet,  it  is  hard  to  sup- 
pose that  he  who  was  now  in  that  "  Asia"  which  he  had  been 
formerly  restrained  from  entering,  did  not  himself  or  by  his 
friends,  endeavor  to  extend  the  Gospel  to  the  various  cities 
which  lay  within  easy  distance  around.     The  seven  celebrated 
churches  in  Asia,  of  which  Ephesus  was  one,  were   either 
founded  by  him  or  already  existed.     If  founded  by  him  as  this 
one  was,  it  must  have  been  during  this  period,  unless  it  be 
supposed  that  he  visited  some  of  them  on  his  journey  to  Ephe- 
sus, by  way  of  Galatia  and  Phrygia ;  or  if  already  founded  by 
others,  he  could  not  fail  to  interest  himself  in  their  welfare — 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  he  did  this,  whether  he  visited  them 
or  not.     It  is,  however,  remarkable,  that  the  epistle  to  this 
Ephesian  church,  is  the  only  one  addressed  by  Paul  to  any  of 
the  seven  churches ;  and  that  in  his  writings  the  only  recog- 
nition he  gives  of  the  existence  of  the  other  six  is  in  an  allu- 
sion to  that  of  Laodicea,  in  Col.  iv.  16,  which  seems  to  show 
that  he  had  written  to  the  Laodiceans  an  epistle,  no  longer  ex- 
tant, unless  it  be  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  by  those 
who  take  that  view  is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  circular  letter  to 
all  the  churches  in  the  province,  of  which  Ephesus  was  the 
chief  city.* 

*  That  both  external  and  internal  evidence  are  wholly  against  the 
notion  that  "  either  Laodicea  by  itself,  or  Ephesus  with  a  cluster  of 
sister  communities,  was  the  designed  recipient  of  this  epistle,"  ha3 
been  ably  shown  by  the  Rev.  Professor  Eadie,  in  the  Introduction  to 
his  admirable  Commentary  on  the  Greek  Text  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul 
to  the  Ephesians,  which  has  reached  us  while  correcting  these  sheets. 

VOL.   iv.  17 


386  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK TUESDAY. 

The  abundant  and  signal  display  of  miraculous  powers  is 
mentioned,  as  having  been  at  this  place  a  most  effective  in- 
strument for  the  advance  of  the  Gospel.  So  frequent  and  so 
certain  were  Paul's  acts  of  supernatural  healing,  that  the  people 
came  to  have  such  confidence  in  the  power  that  rested  in  him, 
as  to  conceive  that  handkerchiefs  and  aprons,  which  had  been 
brought  in  contact  with  his  person,  derived  from  him  virtue 
to  heal  those  to  whom  they  were  applied.  And  Luke  assures 
us  that  this  was  no  delusion  of  theirs,  for  that  "  diseases  de- 
parted from  them,  and  evil  spirits  went  out  of  them."  But 
it  does  not  follow  that  all  who  thus  received  benefit,  nor 
even  all  who  believed  that  he  possessed  supernatural  powers, 
became  believers  in  that  Jesus  whom  he  preached.  Ephesus 
was  the  chief  seat  of  the  black  art  at  this  time,  and  the  pop- 
ular mind  was  familiar  with  the  pretension  to  supernatural 
gifts  and  endowments,  and  was,  in  a  measure,  hardened  against 
the  due  effect  of  miracles,  by  their  experience  in  sorceries  and 
charms.  Indeed,  the  incantations  in  use  here  were  widely 
celebrated  under  the  name  of  "  the  Ephesian  charms."  The 
most  famous  of  these  charms  sounds  marvellously  like  the 
gibberish  of  modern  conjurers,  "Aski  Cataski  Lix  Tetrax 
Damnameneus  Aision."  Nor  were  those  arts  merely  left  to 
strolling  vagabonds,  as  a  means  for  extracting  a  few  pence 
from  idle  women  and  ignorant  men,  but  were  believed  by  the 
educated,  and  studied  as  a  science  by  philosphers  and  men  of 
letters.  They  wrote  many  books  on  these  matters,  some  of 
which,  opening  the  arcana  of  the  occult  arts,  were  highly 
valued,  and  sold  for  immense  sums.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to 
understand  that  many  of  those  who  believed  in  and  availed 
themselves  of  Paul's  supernatural  powers,  went  away  with  the 
impression  that  he  had  acquired  some  superior  skill  which 
had  not  yet  been  made  known  in  books.  One  incident,  how- 
ever, occurred  to  stagger  them,  and  had  altogether  a  very  sal 
utary  effect. 

Jews  and  Gentiles  were  equally  believers  in  magical  and  oc- 
cult arts.  The  Jews,  however,  had  one  form  of  procedure  pecu- 
liar to  themselves.    This  was  the  exorcism  of  demons  ;  and  they 


SILVER    SHRINES.  387 

had  various  adjurations,  ascribed  to  Solomon,  by  which  these 
might  be  effectually  cast  out.  Some  itinerant  exorcists,  the  seven 
sons  of  one  Sceva,  a  scribe,  observing  the  cures  wrought  by  Paul 
in  the  name  of  Jesus,  conceived  that  this  name  was  used  by  him 
as  a  kind  of  spell,  and  was  in  fact  his  secret.  They,  therefore, 
determined  to  try  their  skill  with  it.  So  in  their  next  experi- 
ment, their  adjuration  was  "in  the  name  of  Jesus,  whom  Paul 
preacheth."  The  evil  spirit  answered,  "Jesus  I  know,  and 
Paul  I  know;  but  who  are  ye?"  And  on  these  words  the 
man  in  whom  the  evil  spirit  was,  flew  at  them,  and  in  the  fury 
of  such  terrible  strength  as  enabled  the  Gaderene  demoniac  to 
rend  the  chains  from  his  hands,  he  mastered  all  the  seven, 
and  handled  them  severely  before  they  could  escape,  naked 
and  wounded,  from  his  presence.  This  incident  made  a  pro- 
digious sensation  at  Ephesus.  The  report  of  it  spread  far 
and  wide ;  and  at  the  conquering  name  of  that  Jesus  whom 
Paul  preached,  the  sorcerers  turned  pale.  Indeed,  many  of 
the  believers  themselves,  who  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  curious  arts,  nor  to  part  with  their 
precious  books,  now  so  clearly  saw  their  error,  that  they  pro- 
duced their  books  and  unreluctantly  mado  a  bonfire  of  them. 
Some  curious  person  made  a  calculation  of  the  money  they 
were  worth,  and  found  that  it  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  pieces 
of  silver,  which,  if  these  were  drachmas,  would  be  equal  lo 
about  £1,800 — a  large  sum  to  be  thus  conscientiously  sacri- 
ficed by  persons  few  of  whom  were  jrobably  of  the  wealthy 
class. 


FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

SILVER   SHRINES. ACTS    XIX    23-41. 

There  was  a  sacred  month  at  Ephesus — the  month  of 
Diana, — when  a  great  religious  gathering  took  place  to 
celebrate  the  public  games  in  honor  of  the  goddess.  It  was 
the  pleasant  month  of  May.    Trade  was  brisk  then  at  Ephesus, 


388 


FIFTY-FIRgT    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 


not  only  from  the  large  temporary  increase  of  population,  from 
the  presence  of  provincials  and  strangers  from  more  distant 
parts,  but  from  the  purchases  they  made  in  the  shops  and 
markets.  Among  the  tradesmen  of  Ephesus  there  were  none 
who  depended  more  upon  the  business  of  this  month  than  the 
makers  and  dealers  in  such  holy  trinkets,  as  in  former  days, 
and  indeed  at  the  present  day,  votaries  took  home  as  memo- 
rials of  their  visit  to  sacred  places.  These  were,  at  Ephesus, 
chiefly  silver  models  and  medallions  representing  the  shrine 
and  image  of  the  goddess.  Many  of  the  latter  exist  in  public 
and  private  cabinets ;  and  we  have  caused  one  of  the  most 
striking  of  them  to  be  copied.  In  the  sacred  month  of  the 
third  year  of  Paul's  stay  in  Ephesus,  the  makers  of  these 
"  silver  shrines  "  found,  to  their  great  consternation,  that  the 
demand  for  their  commodity  had  so  materially  fallen  off  as 
most  seriously  to  affect  their  in- 
terests. Upon  this,  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  this  guild  con- 
vened a  meeting  of  the  craft, 
and,  in  an  inflammatory  speech, 
pointed  out  Paul  as  the  person 
who,  by  his  preaching  that  there 
were  **  no  gods  made  with  hands," 
had  not  only  produced  this  crisis 
m  the  trade,  but  had  endangered 
their  glorious  temple,  and  imperilled  that  magnificence  which 
the  world  admired.  Here  we  witness  a  curious,  but  not  un- 
paralleled, union  of  "  the  great  goddess  Diana,"  with  the  great 
god  Self,  whose  worship  still  subsists,  though  that  of  Diana  is 
extinct. 

The  harangue  of  Demetrius  had  all  the  effect  intended.  It 
was  answered  by  a  shout,  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians !" 
and  kindling,  at  the  sound  of  their  own  voices,  into  exaspera- 
tion at  the  prospect  of  reduced  wages  and  loss  of  employment, 
the  crowd  of  workmen  sallied  forth  into  the  streets  to  wreak 
their  vengeance  upon  the  object  of  their  rage.  A  city  so  large 
and  so  full  of  people  was  soon  thrown  into  excitement  by  a 


SILVER    SHRINES.  389 

mob  like  this,  tearing  with  loud  clamors  through  the  streets, 
and  increasing  in  numbers  with  every  step  it  took,  not  only 
from  fellow-workmen  interested  in  every  trade  matter,  but 
from  the  idlers,  with  whom,  in  the  sacred  month,  Ephesus  was 
full,  and  who  never  fail  to  join  any  rushing  crowd,  in  order  to 
see  the  end  of  the  matter. 

The  rioters  went  first  to  Aquila's  house  to  seek  for  Paul. 
They  there  missed  their  prey  ;  and  it  seems  that  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  exposed  themselves  to  the  most  imminent  peril  in 
confronting  the  raging  mob,  until  Paul,  who  had  probably 
but  just  left  the  house,  was  supposed  by  them  to  have  got  be- 
yond their  reach.  It  must  be  something  of  this  sort  that  Paul 
refers  to,  when,  in  speaking  of  those  friends  in  a  later  year,  he 
says,  "  Great  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my  helpers  in  Christ,  who 
have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  own  necks." — (Rom. 
xvi.  3.)  This,  at  least,  is  the  most  likely  occasion  that  the 
history  enables  us  to  discover.  The  mob  behaved  much  like 
that  of  Thessalonica  ;  for,  being  foiled  of  their  principal  aim, 
they  seized  two  of  the  apostle's  well-known  followers,  Gaius 
and  Aristarchus,  and,  well  pleased  at  having  secured  some 
tangible  objects  on  which  to  expend  their  rage,  the  living  tide 
rolled  on  its  tumultuous  waves  to  the  theatre,  and  speedily 
filled  it,  notwithstanding  its  vast  size — that  being  the  place  in 
which  the  assemblies  of  the  people  (who  at  Ephesus  took  much 
part  in  public  affairs)  were  usually  convened.  Here  they 
probably  intended  to  subject  the  prisoners  to  some  irregular 
form  of  trial,  and  then  to  put  them  to  death.  But  when  there, 
nothing  of  the  kind  could  be  done,  the  crowd  being  so  im- 
mense, and  the  greater  part  not  having  been  able  to  learn  the 
real  occasion  or  object  of  this  concourse.  They  therefore  ex- 
pended their  strength  in  shouting ;  but  even  their  shouts  were 
not  unanimous, — "  some  crying  one  thing,  and  some  another." 
Among  these  cries  were  some  that  seem  to  have  threatened 
danger  to  the  Jews  as  a  body,  it  being  known  that  they  hated 
idols,  and  also  that  Paul  belonged  to  that  nation.  This 
alarmed  the  Jews  who  were  present,  although  they  were 
usually  glad  to  stir  up  any  commotion  against  the  Christians. 


390  FIFTY-FIRST   WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

They  therefore  thrust  forward  one  Alexander,  urging  him  to 
address  the  multitude  on  their  behalf.  But  the  crowd  would 
not  hear  him.  They  no  sooner  perceived,  by  his  countenance 
and  accent,  that  he  was  a  Jew,  than  they  drowned  his  voice 
with  shouts  of  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians !"  and  having 
at  length  found  a  cry  in  which  they  could  all  unite,  they  kept 
it  up  long  and  loudly  until  their  breath  failed. 

Meanwhile,  the  recorder,*  a  municipal  officer  of  high 
authority  and  influence,  and  the  chairman  of  any  assembly 
lawfully  convened  in  that  place,  had  made  his  way  into  the 
theatre  ;  so  also  had  the  Asiarchsf — persons  of  great  wealth 
and  distinction,  chosen  annually  to  preside  over  and  regulate 
the  public  games.  Paul  himself,  who  had  by  this  time  heard 
of  what  was  going  on,  and  of  the  danger  to  which  his  friends 
Gaius  and  Aristarchus  were  exposed  on  his  account,  would 
have  hastened  courageously  to  the  spot,  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility upon  himself,  and,  perhaps,  with  some  hope  of  being 
heard  in  his  own  defence.  The  disciples,  however,  took  a 
calmer  view  of  the  case,  and  would  not  suffer  him  to  rush  into 
this  danger.  Even  the  Asiarchs,  who,  as  men  of  high  stand- 
ing and  reputation,  had  learned  to  appreciate  his  character 
and  motives,  and  were  desirous  to  protect  a  man  so  gifted 
from  the  popular  rage,  sent  a  message  to  him  privately* 
charging  him  not  to  venture  into  the  theatre. 

Now  that,  after  two  hours,  the  popular  fury  had  somewhat 
exhausted  itself  in  abortive  clamor,  was  the  time  for  some  per- 
son in  authority  to  try  to  master  that  multitudinous  host. 
The  recorder  attempted  the  task  with  great  ability  and  success. 
By  taking  the  chair,  as  was  his  official  right,  he  constituted 
this  a  regular  assembly  of  the  people  ;  and  their  throats  being 
by  this  time  sore,  they  were  doubtless  glad  of  the  excuse  of 
respect  to  their  chief  magistrate,  to  cease  their  clamor,  when 
they  perceived  that  he  wished  to  address  them.  He  assured 
them  that  the  honor  of  their  great  goddess,  and  the  renown 
of  her  image  "  that  fell  down  from  Jupiter,"  were  beyond  all 

*  "  Town-clerk  "  of  the  Auth.  Version. 

f  "  The  chief  of  Asia,"  in  the  Auth.  Version. 


SILVER   SHRINES.  391 

question.  They  therefore  ought  to  do  nothing  rashly  against 
these  men  who  had  not  been  proved  guilty  of  any  offence. 
But  if  Demetrius,  and  his  company,  had  any  special  damage 
to  complain  of,  the  law  courts  were  open  to  them  for  justice  ; 
or  if  any  public  wrong  had  been  committed,  there  was  the 
assembly  of  the  people,  which  met  on  particular  days,  or 
which  might,  by  proper  authority,  be  specially  convened.  But 
as  it  was,  their  present  irregular  proceedings  amounted  to  a 
breach  of  the  peace,  for  which  they  were  liable  to  be  called  to 
severe  account  by  the  Roman  authorities.  He  then  dismissed 
the  assembly  in  the  usual  form  ;  and  under  the  impression 
which  his  words  had  given,  the  crowd  quietly  dispersed. 

In  the  narrative  of  this  transaction,  there  are  many  of  those 
specially  appropriate  intimations  which  have  been  so  often  re- 
ferred to,  as  proving  the  minute  accuracy  of  the  historian 
To  explain  all  of  them  fully  would  need  a  larger  exposition  of 
the  Ephesian  constitution  than  would  be  here  suitable,  and  we 
can  therefore  only  indicate  some  principal  points. 

Luke  gives  to  the  magistrate,  who  addressed  the  crowd  in 
the  theatre,  his  right  title,  which  may  properly  signify  "  re- 
corder," as  during  his  year  of  office  he  had  the  responsible 
charge  of  the  public  records  ;  but,  as  the  chief  representative 
of  the  civil  municipal  authority,  his  place  had  more  resem- 
blance to  that  of  our  mayors  ;  and,  like  them,  he  was,  ex  officio, 
the  chairman  of  both  the  municipal  courts  which  the  city 
possessed — one  the  council  of  notable  inhabitants,  and  the 
other  the  assembly  of  the  people.  The  importance  of  his 
office  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  the  year  in  which  he  held 
office  was  distinguished  by  his  name ;  and  we  possess  coins 
bearing  the  names  of  various  persons  by  whom  it  was  filled. 

So  of  the  "Asiarch,"  the  office  was  common  to  other  prov- 
inces of  Asia-Minor ;  but  in  this  only  was  it  distinguished  by 
the  name  here  given,  the  title  being  in  each  province  formed 
from  its  name.  Hence  we  read  in  books,  or  on  inscriptions 
and  coins,  of  Bithyniarchs,  Galatiarchs,  Lyciarchs,  and  Syri- 
archs.  These  officers  presided  over  the  public  games  and  fes- 
tivals celebrated  in  the  cities  of  the  province,  clad  in  magnifi- 


392  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK THURSDAY. 

cent  official  dresses,  with  golden  crowns  on  their  heads.  The 
honor  was  great,  but  it  was  dearly  purchased,  for  they  had  to 
bear  all  the  expenses  of  the  games  at  their  own  proper  cost. 
Hence  the  wealthiest  persons  in  the  province  were  chosen  for 
this  distinction.  Such,  indeed,  was  the  outlay  involved  in  the 
appointment,  that  a  person  having  five  children  was  entitled 
to  claim  exemption,  and  no  one  was  compellable  to  serve  the 
office  twice. 

Where  the  recorder  says  in  his  speech  that  "  the  city  of  the 
Ephesians  is  a  worshipper  of  the  great  goddess  Diana,"  he 
uses  a  term  (Neokoros)  which,  in  its  original  signification,  de- 
notes a  temple-sweeper.     But  in  process  of  time,  the  officer 


thus  denoted  became  the  custodian  or  wardeu  of  the  temple, 
and  the  office  rose  to  such  importance  that  persons  of  the 
highest  quality  aspired  to  it.  Whole  cities  laid  claim  to  the 
appellation  ;  and  as  we  see  from  the  text,  as  well  as  from  the 
coins,  the  chief  pride  of  the  Ephesian  people  was  to  regard 
themselves  as  the  Neokoroi  of  their  goddess  Diana.  Of  the 
coins,  the  one  annexed  is  a  fair  specimen,  and  is  curious  as 
representing  Diana  in  her  Grecian  character,  with  the  dress 
attributes  of  a  huntress. 


FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

EUTYCIIUS. ACTS    XX. 

At  the  time  when  the  circumstances  recorded  last  evening 
took  place,  Paul  had  already  arranged  to  leave  Ephesus,  and 


KUTYCHUfl.  393 

Lad  even  settled  the  route  he  was  to  take.  By  comparing  the 
intimations  given  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  writ- 
ten shortly  before  he  left  Ephesus ;  in  the  Second  Epistle,  writ- 
ten not  long  after  his  departure  from  that  city ;  and  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans,  written  after  his  arrival  at  Corinth, — 
we  find  that  he  had  formed  an  extensive  plan  for  his  future 
labors,  in  conformity  with  his  avowed  principle  of  making  those 
places  the  scene  of  his  operations,  where  no  one  had  labored 
before  him.  Having,  therefore,  by  this  time  laid  a  sufficient 
foundation  for  the  extension  of  the  Christian  church  among 
the  nations  using  the  Greek  language,  he  purposed  to  visit 
Rome,  the  metropolis  of  the  civilized  world,  where  a  flourish- 
ing church  had  long  been  established,  on  his  way  to  Spain,  to 
commence  the  publication  of  the  Gospel  at  the  extremity  of 
Western  Europe.*  He  wished  previously,  however,  to  revisit 
the  churches  he  had  formerly  established  in  Macedonia  and 
Achaia,  and  especially  the  church  at  Corinth,  the  disorders  in 
which  had  become  a  subject  of  great  anxiety  to  him.  He  had, 
originally,  intended  to  proceed  at  once  to  Corinth,  and  pass 
through  Macedonia  on  his  return ;  but  being  desirous  that  his 
epistle  should  have  time  to  work  its  due  effect,  he  deternined  to 
go  first  to  Macedonia,  and  pass  through  that  region  to  Corinth, 
where  he  expected  to  be  able  to  spend  the  winter, — after 
which  he  would  in  the  spring  visit  Jerusalem,  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  Rome.  All  this  he  was  enabled  to  accomplish,  though 
his  visit  to  Rome  was  under  far  other  circumstances,  and  his 
stay  there  much  longer  than  he  had  at  first  contemplated. 

The  visit  to  Jerusalem  seems  an  anomalous  feature  in  this 
plan,  seeing  how  easy  it  would  be  for  him  to  reach  Rome  from 
Corinth.  But  this  also  had  a  definite  object  closely  connected 
with  his  journey  to  Macedonia  and  Achaia.  He  was  desirous 
that  a  collection  should  be  made  for  the  poor  saints  at  Jeru- 
salem, the  results  of  which  he  proffered  himself  to  take  to 
that  city.  The  Judean  converts  were,  as  a  body,  really  i  very 
necessitous  circumstances,  and  needed  all  the  help  thei  Chris- 
tian brethren  in  the  prosperous  Gentile  cities  could  afford. 
*  Rom.  xv.  24-28. 
17* 


394  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK THURSDAY. 

Besides  this,  Paul  had  much  at  heart  the  establishment  of 
cordial  sympathies  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  converts ; 
and  he  justly  considered  that  any  strong  interest  manifested 
by  the  latter,  at  the  cost  of  personal  sacrifices,  in  the  welfare 
of  the  former,  would  go  far  to  the  removal  of  obstructive  prej- 
udices between  them.  He  had,  therefore,  some  time  before, 
proposed  this  matter  to  the  churches  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia, 
with  the  view  that  the  collections  should  be  ready  against  his 
arrival,  and  that  there  might  be  no  gatherings  after  he  came. 
It  was  partly  in  order  to  the  furtherance  of  this  business,  and 
partly  to  bring  the  Corinthians  to  a  right  state  of  mind  against 
his  arrival,  that  Paul  despatched  Timothy  and  Erastus  before 
him  by  the  way  he  meant  to  take,  some  time  previous  to  his 
own  departure.  With  Timothy  we  are  already  acquainted. 
Erastus  was  a  no  less  suitable  person  for  this  mission,  for  he 
was  himself  a  Corinthian,  and  a  man  of  authority  among 
them,  for  he  was  perhaps  now,  and  certainly  he  was  the  year 
after,  "  the  chamberlain  of  the  city." 

Paul  hoped  to  receive  information  from  them,  to  guide  his 
own  proceedings,  before  his  departure.  But  in  this  he  was 
disappointed  ;  for  Timothy  was  prevented  from  getting  so  far 
as  Corinth,  and  returned  from  Macedonia  to  Ephesus,  without 
any  information  as  to  the  effect  the  epistle  had  produced ;  and 
although  Erastus  did  reach  Corinth,  his  return  had  not  been 
expected,  and  no  report  from  him  had  yet  been  received. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  apostle  sent  Titus  direct  to 
Corinth  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information,  and  that  he 
might  personally  operate  upon  the  church  there  in  accordance 
with  the  impression  made  by  the  epistle.  At  length  Paul 
took  leave  of  the  disciples  at  Ephesus,  and  commenced  his 
journey,  accompanied  by  Timothy.  In  the  first  instance,  he 
proceeded  to  Troas,  where  he  proposed,  as  formerly,  to  em- 
bark for  Macedonia.  Here  he  seems  to  have  remained  some 
time,  iwaiting  in  vain  the  return  of  Titus  from  Corinth.  At 
length,  however,  he  embarked  for  Macedonia  ;  and  there  re- 
ceived the  most  gratifying  evidence  that  the  churches  he  had 
*  Rom.  xvi.  23. 


EUTYCHU3.  395 

planted  were  advancing  in  the  Christian  life.  Soon  after  his 
arrival  in  Macedonia,  he  was  met  by  Titus,  who  gave  him  the 
much-desired  intelligence  from  Corinth.  It  was  of  an  en- 
couraging nature,  and  greatly  revived  his  spirit,  which  he  de- 
clares to  have  been  much  depressed  when  he  first  arrived.* 

He  was  thus  induced  to  write  his  second  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  which  he  sent  by  the  hand  of  Titus,  who  was 
accompanied  by  the  "brother  whose  praise  was  in  all  the 
churches," — generally  supposed  to  have  been  Luke,  who  may 
also  have  joined  Paul  in  Macedonia ;  and  seemingly  by  an- 
other brother  who  is  highly  commended,  but  whose  identity 
is  still  more  uncertain.  These  had  been  chosen  by  the 
Macedonian  churches,  to  take  charge  of  their  contributions, 
Paul  having,  with  his  usual  delicacy  in  money  matters,  de- 
clined to  take  personal  charge  of  the  funds  collected.f 

Paul  seems  to  have  spent  the  summer  and  autumn  of  that 
year  in  Macedonia,  and  then  proceeded  to  Greece  (Achaia), 
where  he  spent  the  winter,  chiefly  at  Corinth. 

The  narrative  of  Luke  is  here  very  rapid,  and  we  have  no 
detailed  account  of  the  proceedings. 

In  the  spring,  Paul  was  preparing  to  embark  at  the  eastern 
port  of  Corinth  for  Asia,  when  he  became  aware  of  a  plot  to 
seize  him  on  board  the  ship,  or  on  the  way  to  it.  He  there- 
fore directed  his  destined  companions  to  proceed  in  the  vessel, 
while  he  went  round  by  land  to  Philippi,  accompanied  only 
by  Luke,  and  took  shipping  there.  This  necessarily  lost  some 
of  the  time  which  had  been  appropriated  to  the  journey  to 
Jerusalem,  and  imparted  a  character  of  haste  to  all  the  sub- 
sequent movements  ;  for  Paul  wanted  to  be  there  by  Pente- 
cost, and  the  passover  week  had  already  ended  before  he  could 
quit  Philippi.  There  was  a  further  retardation  in  the  voyage 
itself,  from  the  city  to  Troas,  for  it  occupied  no  less  than  five 
days,  though  he  had  formerly  reached  Philippi  in  two  days 
from  Troas.  On  reaching  that  port,  he  found  the  friends  from 
Corinth  awaiting  him.  There  were  some  whom  we  have 
heard  of  before,  and  some  not, — Sopater  of  Berea,  Aristarchus 
*  2  Cor.  vii.  6-10.  f  2  Cor.  viii.  17,  18,  22. 


396  FIFTYrFlKST    WEEK THURSDAY. 

and  Secundus  of  Thessalonica,  Gaius  of  Derbe,  Timothy,  and 
of  the  preconsular  Asia,  Tychicus  and  Trophimus.  Luke's 
presence  is  indicated  by  his  resuming  the  first  person  plural  in 
mentioning  the  departure  of  the  party  from  Corinth.  "  These 
going  before  tarried  for  us  at  Troas  ;"  and  "  We  sailed  away 
from  Philippi," — Acts  xx.  5,  6.  This  form  of  expression  is 
maintained  to  the  end  of  the  book. 

Paul  remained  seven  days  at  Troas  ;  and  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  he  met  the  brethren  there  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper, — one  strong  piece  of  evidence  to  show  that  the  ob- 
servance of  the  first  day  of  the  week  had  already  become 
prevalent  in  the  Christian  churches.  In  those  days,  tjie 
Lord's  Supper  was,  as  a  supper,  celebrated  in  the  evening. 
After  they  had  partaken  of  it,  Paul,  being  to  depart  on  the 
morrow,  delivered  a  farewell  address  to  the  congregation 
assembled  in  an  upper  chamber.  This  discourse  lasted  till 
day-break  ;  but  at  midnight  it  sustained  an  alarming  inter- 
ruption. A  young  man  named  Eutychus  was  seated  in  the 
window,  the  lattice  of  which  was  left  open  to  refresh  the  air, 
which  would  otherwise  have  become  oppressive  from  the 
numerous  lights  that  were  burning  in  the  chamber.  This 
youth  fell  into  a  deep  sleep,  and  sinking  back,  dropped  out 
into  the  court-yard  below.  As  this  was  from  the  third  story, 
every  one  concluded  that  he  was  killed.  Such  seemed  to  be 
the  case  when  they  hurried  down  into  the  court.  But  Paul, 
overcome  with  tenderness  and  compassion,  and  feeling  an  in- 
tense desire  to  restore  him  to  life,  cast  himself  upon  the  body, 
and  embraced  it.  Then,  rising,  he  said,  "  trouble  not  your- 
selves, for  his  life  is  in  him."  It  has  been  questioned  whether 
Eutychus  was  really  dead,  and  restored  by  Paul  to  life ;  or 
that  he  was  merely  stunned  by  the  fall,  and  that  Paul  dis- 
covered and  announced  this  fact  to  the  spectators.  The  case 
is  not  quite  clear  from  the  narrative ;  but  it  seems  most  prob- 
able that  the  youth  was  killed,  and  restored  to  life  by  miracle. 
The  circumstances  and  the  tone  of  the  narrative  favor  this  con- 
clusion ;  and,  besides,  the  narrative  expressly  says,  "  that  he 
was   taken  up  dead."      Paul   then  returned   up  stairs,  and 


FOREWARNINGS,  397 

finished  his  discourse ;  and,  after  taking  some  refreshment, 
was  ready  to  set  forth  on  his  journey,  when  the  young  man 
who  had  fallen  was  brought  in  alive  and  well,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  people. 

From  Troas  Paul  went  on  foot  to  Assos,  which  lies  rather 
more  than  a  day's  journey  to  the  south,  and  there  he  joined 
his  party,  who  had  gone  on  before  by  ship.  They  then  sailed 
to  Mitylene,  in  the  isle  of  Lesbos,  opposite  Assos,  from  which 
it  is  separated  by  a  narrow  strait.  Another  day's  sail  brought 
them  to  Chios,  an  island  not  far  from  Smyrna,  south-east  of 
the  bay.  This  island,  now  called  Scio,  has  in  our  day  been 
rendered  memorable  by  the  hideous  butchery  of  the  inhabit- 
ants by  the  Turks  in  1822. 

The  next  day  they  touched  at  the  isle  of  Samos,  and  lay  to 
for  the  night — for  these  vessels  only  sailed  by  day — at 
Trogyllium,  on  the  mainland  opposite.  The  next  day  they 
got  as  far  as  Miletus,  about  thirty  miles  south  of  Ephesus,  and 
withdrawn  a  little  from  the  coast  upon  a  stream  of  water.  At 
that  place  they  landed,  and  Paul  sent  a  messenger  to  Ephesus 
to  request  the  elders  of  the  church  to  join  him  there.  They 
came  immediately ;  and  Paul  took  leave  of  them  in  a  most 
affecting  and  impressive  address,  uttered  under  the  conviction 
that  this  was  their  last  meeting  on  earth.  At  the  close,  the 
apostle  kneeled  down  and  prayed  with  them.  "  And  they  all 
wept  sore,  and  fell  upon  Paul's  neck,  and  kissed  him ;  sorrow- 
ing most  of  all  for  the  words  which  he  spake,  that  they  should 
see  his  face  no  more." 


FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

FOREWARNING S. ACTS  XXI.  1-1 7. 

The  vessel  in  which  Paul  had  embarked  touched  next  at 
Coos,  the  largest  of  several  small  islands  (the  Sporades),  off 
ihe  coast  of  Caria,  and  the  birth-place  of  Hippocrates  the 


398  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK FRIDAY. 

physician.  The  island  of  Rhodes,  at  which  they  next  touched, 
looks  like  a  large  piece  broken  off  from  the  south-west  corner 
of  Asia  Minor,  lying  only  nine  miles  from  the  nearest  point  of 
its  coast.  This  large  island  was  of  remotely  ancient  renown 
as  a  seat  of  commerce,  navigation,  literature,  and  art.  The 
climate  was  delightful,  the  soil  fertile,  the  scenery  picturesque, 
and  at  this  time  of  the  year  the  air  was  perfumed  with  the 
fragrance  of  its  flowers.  We  have  all  heard  of  the  huge  co- 
lossus, 105  feet  high,  which  bestrode  the  entrance  to  the  harbor 
of  the  city  of  Rhodes.  But  Paul's  vessel  did  not  sail  between 
its  legs,  as  the  vast  image  had  been  prostrated  many  years  be- 
fore by  an  earthquake.*  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
entered  the  harbor  at  all,  as  there  was  good  anchorage  in  the 
roadstead ;  or  that  they  landed,  seeing  that  they  seem  merely 
to  have  laid  to  there  for  the  night.  It  is  still,  however,  usual 
for  vessels  from  and  to  Caramania,  and  from  or  to  Syria  and 
Egypt,  to  touch  at  Rhodes  for  pilots  or  information. 

From  Rhodes  the  vessel  proceeded  to  Patara,  on  the  south- 
ern coast  of  Asia  Minor,  upon  a  bay  into  which  the  river 
Xanthus  flows.  It  is  about  ten  miles  from  the  city  of  that 
name,  upon  the  same  river,  whose  interesting  monuments 
have  been  of  late  years  brought  to  light,  and  are  now  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum.  Patara  was  in  some  sense  the 
port  of  Xanthus.  The  vessel  seems  to  have  finished  its  voy- 
age at  this  port,  or  was  proceeding  to  some  place  farther  east 
on  this  coast,  than  suited  the  design  of  Paul  to  be  at  Jerusa- 
lem by  Pentecost.  He  was  therefore  glad  to  find  in  the  har- 
bor a  vessel  just  about  to  sail  across  the  open  sea  to  Phoenicia. 
They  forthwith  went  on  board,  and  took  their  departure — 
perhaps  the  same  evening — as  even  the  timidity  of  ancient 
navigation  did  not  refuse,  with  a  fair  wind,  to  pass  by  night 
over  this  safe  and  unobstructed  piece  of  water.     At  that  rate 

*  "  About  the  end  of  Olymp.  138,  or  at  the  beginning  of  Olymp. 
189,  in  the  reign  of  Euergetes,  (Rhodes)  was  almost  wholly  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake,  during  which  the  colossus  was  overthrown,  which 
was  never  set  up  again."  Niebuhr,  Lectures  on  Ethnography,  201. 
This  date  corresponds  to  about  b.  c.  225. 


FOREWARNINGS.  399 

they  might,  with  a  good  wind — and  the  wind  is  always  fair 
for  their  course  at  that  time  of  the  year, — reach  Tyre  in  two 
days.  Their  course  was  direct  for  that  port,  passing  the  is- 
land of  Cyprus  rapidly  on  the  left.  The  advantage  of  rinding 
at  Patara  a  vessel  ready  to  sail  at  once  for  Phoenicia,  and  the 
quick  passage  thither,  not  only  relieved  Paul  from  any  anxiety 
as  to  being  in  time  for  the  Pentecostal  feast  at  Jerusalem,  but 
left  him  several  surplus  days.  He  concluded,  therefore,  to  re- 
main at  Tyre,  for  the  edification  of  the  church  in  that  place, 
for  the  few  days  which  the  vessel  required  to  remain  there  in 
order  to  discharge  her  cargo,  and  perhaps  to  take  in  another, 
before  proceeding  to  her  final  destination. 

A  church  had  been  founded  at  Tyre  soon  after  the  death  of 
Stephen,  and  it  is  in  every  way  probable  that  Paul  himself 
had  been  there  once,  if  not  oftener,  before,  as  it  lay  in  the 
track  of  some  of  his  previous  journeys  by  land  and  sea.  In 
refreshing  intercourse  with  the  Christian  friends  in  this  city, 
Paul  and  his  companions  remained  for  a  week,  during  which 
he  so  established  himself  in  the  affections  of  the  brethren, 
that,  when  he  departed,  they  all ,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, accompanied  him  out  of  the  city  gate  down  to  the  sea- 
shore. They  there  knelt  down  upon  the  beach,  and  employed 
in  prayer  the  few  last  moments  they  could  spend  together ; 
and  then,  with  a  warm  embrace,  parted  from  each  other — the 
travellers  proceeding  on  board,  and  the  Tyrian  brethren  slowly 
and  mournfully  returning  to  their  homes.  They  feared  that 
they  should  meet  no  more ;  for  some  of  the  brethren  who  were 
prophets  had  announced  that  Jerusalem  would  be  a  scene  of 
great  danger  to  him.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
viction he  had  himself  expressed  at  Miletus ;  but  none  of  these 
things  moved  him,  for  he  felt  that  he  was  in  the  path  of  duty, 
and  could  leave  the  rest  to  God. 

The  vessel  might,  and  probably  did,  reach  Ptolemais  the 
same  day,  the  distance  being  but  twenty-eight  miles.  Here  the 
sea  voyage  terminated,  either  because  the  vessel  proceeded  no 
further,  or  because  Paul  preferred  to  make  the  rest  of  the 
journey  by  land.     There  were  disciples  at  this  place,  and  af- 


400  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK FRIDAY. 

fectionate  greetings  were  exchanged  with  them ;  but  the  stay 
here  was  but  for  one  day,  as,  although  there  was  abundance 
of  time  for  being  at  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost,  the  apostle  wish- 
ed to  spend  some  days  at  Caesarea  before  proceeding  to  the 
holy  city.  The  next  day  Paul  started  for  Caesarea,  which  lay 
upon  the  coast,  forty-four  miles  south  of  Ptolemais,  so  that  it 
might  be  reached  in  two  days'  easy  travel.  Here  a  Christian 
society  had  long  ago  been  established  by  Philip  the  evangelist 
(Acts  viii.  40),  and  it  still  flourished  under  his  auspices,  for  he 
had  settled  there  with  his  family.  To  his  house  Paul  repair- 
ed on  his  arrival  at  Caesarea,  and  took  up  his  lodging  with 
him ;  and  happy,  doubtless,  were  the  days  which  he  was  en- 
abled to  spend  under  this  roof,  with  Philip  and  his  four  vir- 
gin daughters,  "  which  did  prophecy,"  a  fact  mentioned  per- 
haps to  intimate  that  they  were  commissioned  by  the  Spirit  to 
intimate  to  Paul  the  risk  and  danger  of  the  path  he  was  pur- 
suing. This  was  more  distinctly  declared  to  him  by  Agabus, 
the  same  prophet  who  had  years  before  predicted  the  famine. 
He  was  at  Jerusalem  when  the  news  came  that  Paul  was  stay- 
ing at  Caesarea ;  but  he  hastened  down  to  the  coast,  and  went 
to  Philip's  house,  where,  on  seeing  Paul,  he  deprived  him  of 
his  girdle,  and  binding  therewith  his  own  hands  and  feet,  de- 
clared— "  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  shall  the  Jews  at  Je- 
rusalem bind  the  man  that  owneth  this  girdle,  and  shall  deliv- 
er him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles  !"  On  this  very  plain 
intimation,  all  the  disciples  present,  both  those  that  came  with 
Paul,  and  those  resident  in  the  place,  implored  him  with  tears 
to  abandon  his  intention.  He  was  not  moved  by  this  assured 
view  of  peril  to  himself;  but  he  was  affected  by  the  grief  they 
felt  on  his  account,  and  he  cried,  with  deep  emotion,  "  What 
mean  ye,  to  weep,  and  to  break  mine  heart  ?  for  I  am  ready, 
not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jeruslem  for  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Finding  that  his  resolution  was  not  to 
be  shaken,  they  ceased  to  distress  him  by  their  entreaties,  say- 
ing, "  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done." 

If  we  feel  some  surprise  at  Paul's  persistence  in  the  face  of 
this  authoritative  intimation,   we  may  reflect  that,  although 


FOREWARNINGS.  401 

warned  of  danger,  he  was  not  forbidden  to  proceed.  Nor  can 
we  say  that  he  did  wrong,  when  we  consider  that  although 
all  this  came  to  pass,  yet  the  result  was  in  accordance  with  his 
own  ulterior  views,  by  transferring  his  services  to  Rome,  which 
he  had  so  long  been  desirous  of  visiting,  and  was  at  this  time 
actually  intending  to  visit. 

When  Paul  arrived  at  Caesarea,  it  was  still  twelve  days  to 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  three  of  which  would  be  required  for 
the  journey  of  seventy-five  miles  to  Jerusalem.  Thus,  there 
was  nine  clear  days  before  the  feast,  which  he  was  at  liberty 
to  spend  either  at  Jerusalem  or  at  Csesarea.  He  chose  the 
latter  probably  from  some  regard  to  his  safety  ;  for  although 
determined  to  spend  the  Pentecost  at  Jerusalem,  he  was  not 
the  man  to  expose  himself  to  needless  danger ;  and  he  could 
not  but  be  aware  that  every  day  in  Jerusalem  would  be  dan- 
gerous to  himself  and  perhaps  to  others. 

At  length  it  was  time  to  proceed.  And  now  the  party  had 
become  so  large  that,  with  its  baggage,  it  formed  a  little  cara- 
van ;  for  it  received  the  addition  of  brethren  of  Csesarea,  who 
went  up  with  them,  partly  in  token  of  their  respect  and  affec- 
tion for  the  apostle  and  his  friends,  and  partly  to  provide  for 
their  entertainment  there,  by  introducing  them  to  their  friend 
Mnason  of  Cyprus,  an  early  convert,  now  resident  at  Jerusa- 
lem, who,  as  they  knew,  had  the  means  of  affording  them 
accommodation  in  his  house,  and  as  they  were  sure,  or  had 
ascertained  by  letter,  had  the  will  to  do  so.  This  was  an  im- 
portant matter  at  that  time,  when  Jerusalem  was  usually 
crowded  with  visitors.  To  Mnason  they  accordingly  repaired 
on  their  arrival,  and  were  most  cordially  received  by  him  and 
other  brethren,  who  had  perhaps  assembled  to  meet  them. 


402  FIFTY-FIRST   WEEK SATURDAY. 

FIFTY-FIRST  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE  TOWER. ACTS  XXI.  18 XXII.  29. 

The  day  after  their  arrival,  Paul  and  his  companions  at- 
tended at  the  house  of  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  who  had  a 
special  charge  over  the  Jerusalem  church,  and  where  they 
found  the  presbyters  or  elders  already  assembled  to  receive 
them.  When  Paul  and  the  delegates  to  whom  the  Gentile 
churches  had,  at  his  instance,  intrusted  their  contributions, 
had  delivered  up  their  offerings,  Paul  reported  at  length  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel  in  heathen  lands,  and  the  trying  scenes 
through  which  he  had  passed  since  their  last  interview.  When 
they  heard  it,  they  "  glorified  the  Lord,"  by  uniting  in  solemn 
thanksgiving.  In  his  recital,  Paul  could  not  but  have  given 
some  prominence  to  the  opposition  he  had  encountered  from 
Jews  and  Judaizers;  and  they  were  themselves  very  well 
aware  of  the  odium  which  rested  upon  his  name  among  the 
same  parties  in  Jerusalem.  This  made  them  anxious  for  his 
safety,  and  set  them  to  devise  such  means  as  they  thought  best 
calculated  to  answer  it.  They  told  him  that  it  was  generally 
reported  and  believed  in  the  city,  among  the  thousands  of 
converted  Jews  who  remained  zealous  for  the  law,  that  he 
taught  the  Jews  in  foreign  lands  that  they  ought  not  to  cir- 
cumcise their  children,  nor  observe  the  law  of  Moses.  This, 
we  all  know,  was  a  misrepresentation.  What  he  did  teach 
was,  that  the  Gentile  converts  were  not  to  have  the  obligations 
of  the  law  forced  upon  them ;  and  although  the  Jewish  con- 
verts might  observe  the  law  if  they  saw  fit,  it  was  not  to  be 
taken  as  a  ground  of  justification  before  God.  His  teachings 
in  this  matter,  however,  have  been  so  repeatedly  explained  in 
this  volume,  that  it  is  not  needful  to  develop  them  more  fully 
in  this  place. 

This  being  the  case,  and  seeing  that  it  was  impossible  that 
the  presence  of  a  man  so  eminent,  so  much  talked  of,  and  so 
well  known  to  many  of  the  foreign  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  could 


THE    TOWER.  403 

fail  to  attract  attention,  it  was  thought  advisable  that  he  should 
perform  some  overt  act  which  might  make  it  apparent  that 
he  was  himself  an  observer  of  the  law.  The  course  they 
proposed  was  somewhat  remarkable.  There  were  four  dis- 
ciples who  had  taken  the  Nazarite  vow,  of  which  seven  days 
remained  unexpired,  at  the  end  whereof  they  would  shave 
their  heads  and  present  their  offerings.  It  was  suggested  that 
Paul  should  join  himself  to  them,  and  present  his  offering  with 
theirs ;  or,  as  some  understand,  defray  the  expense  for  the 
offerings  of  the  whole  party,  and  announce  beforehand  to  the 
priest  the  responsibility  he  incurred.  This  would  show  his 
approval  of,  and  his  concurrence  in  a  peculiar  Jewish  rite ; 
nor  could  this  be  in  any  way  inconsistent  in  him,  or  repug- 
nant to  his  own  conscience,  seeing  that  he  had  formerly  un- 
dertaken such  a  vow  on  his  own  account.  The  participation 
indicated  was  also  quite  regular.  The  offerings  were  some- 
what expensive  for  a  poor  man,  and  therefore  it  was  considered 
a  very  graceful  thing  for  any  one  to  help  him  by  taking  a 
share  in  or  providing  the  offerings,  whereby  he  was  considered 
to  make  himself  in  some  sort  a  party  in  the  vow. 

Paul  accordingly  took  the  course  recommended,  but  its 
object  was  altogether  frustrated  by  the  circumstances  that  took 
place  the  day  before  its  completion.  Some  Jews  from  Ephe- 
sus  had  observed  Paul  walking  the  streets  of  the  city  with 
Trophimus,  whom  they  knew  to  be  a  Gentile.  They  took  in- 
vidious notice  of  this  circumstance,  and  when  they  afterwards 
found  Paul,  they  contended  that  he  had  brought  Trophimus 
in  with  him,  though  from  the  crowded  state  of  the  temple 
courts  they  could  not  perceive  that  person.  They  therefore 
laid  violent  hands  upon  Paul ;  and  shouting,  "  Men  of  Israel, 
help !"  declared  that  this  was  the  man  who  went  about  every- 
where preaching  against  the  temple  and  the  law,  and  who  had 
even  crowned  his  enormities  by  bringing  Greeks  into  the  holy 
place.  Nothing  could  be  better  calculated  than  this  to  raise 
a  violent  commotion  among  a  Jewish  crowd  in  the  temple 
courts.  The  living  mass  was  quickly  stirred  into  rage,  and 
the  rage  as  quickly  grew  furious.     Paul  would,  in  all  likeli- 


404  FIFTY-FIRST    WEEK SATURDAY. 

hood,  have  been  killed  on  the  spot,  but  that  the  assailants 
were  unwilling  to  pollute  the  temple  with  blood.  They  then 
dragged  him  down  the  steps  from  the  court  of  the  women 
into  the  outer  court,  and  they  had  no  sooner  passed  than  the 
Levhical  porters  shut  behind  them  the  Corinthian  gates.  The 
mob  then  began  beating  Paul,  in  the  want  of  readier  means 
to  take  his  life ;  but  the  delay  which  had  occurred  in  remov- 
ing him  from  the  inner  court  was  the  means  of  his  preserva- 
tion. The  worship  in  the  temple  courts  was  in  fact  conducted 
under  the  supervision  of  Roman  soldiers.  Among  the  excited 
multitudes  crowding  the  temple  at  the  great  festival,  all  ani- 
mated by  hatred  of  the  Roman  government,  the  signs  of 
whose  power  in  "  the  city  of  the  great  King"  were  an  abomi- 
nation in  their  eyes,  outbreaks  of  popular  fury  had  been  so 
frequent,  that  it  had  become  the  custom,  on  such  occasions,  to 
send  a  strong  force  into  the  fortress,  called  the  Tower  of  Antonia, 
which  stood  at  the  south-west  corner  of  the  temple  area,  with 
the  cloisters  of  which  it  communicated  by  means  of  a  stair- 
case. This  fortress  stood  high  enough  to  overlook  the  courts 
of  the  temple,  from  one,  at  least,  of  the  four  smaller  towers  that 
rose  at  its  angles.  The  sentinels  stationed  here  could  plainly 
observe  all  that  took  place  in  the  temple  area,  and  on  the 
slightest  sign  of  disturbance,  might  give  the  alarm  to  the  com- 
mandant and  the  soldiers,  who,  being  always  under  arms,  were 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  pour  down  the  staircase  into 
the  court.  Thus  it  was  in  the  present  case.  At  the  first  alarm 
the  commandant  himself,  attended  by  some  centurions,  and 
a  strong  body  of  troops,  hastened  down  into  the  temple ;  and 
at  their  appearance  the  mob  desisted  from  their  murderous 
violence,  and  fell  back  a  little.  As  Paul  was  obviously  the  ex- 
citing cause  of  this  uproar,  the  commandant,  whose  name  was 
Lysias,  caused  him  to  be  apprehended,  and  bound,  in  the 
Roman  fashion,  by  two  chains,  one  from  each  wrist  to  the 
wrists  of  two  soldiers.  Lysias  then  endeavored  to  learn  who 
his  prisoner  was,  and  what  offence  he  had  committed ;  but 
finding  it  impossible  to  get  at  the  truth  in  the  tumult,  he  rested 
in  his  own  conclusion,  that  he  was  the  Egyptian  impostor 


THE    TOWER.  405 

whom  the  governor  Felix  had  lately  defeated  on  Mount  Olivet, 
and  who  had  himself  escaped,  and  baffled  the  search  made  for 
him,*  Being  thus  still  alive,  Lysias  supposed  that  he  might 
secretly  have  found  his  way  into  the  city  and  temple ;  nor 
tfas  the  fact  that  the  Jews  were  beating  Paul  calculated  to 
mdeceive  him,  seeing  that  the  man's  designs  had  been  from 
he  first  exceedingly  unpopular  in  Jerusalem. 

As  the  soldiers  were  removing  Paul  along  the  court  to  the 
&iairs  of  the  fortress,  the  people  pressed  after  them  with  yells 
and  execrations,  shouting,  "  Away  with  him !  away  with 
him  !"  And  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  the  pressure  became  so 
great,  that  the  soldiers  to  whom  Paul  was  chained  had  to 
take  him  in  their  united  arms,  and  carry  him  up  the  steps. 

At  this  moment  the  apostle,  with  great  resolution  and  pres- 
ence of  mind,  turned  to  the  commandant,  who  was  close  to 
him,  and  asked  him  respectfully  in  Greek,  "  May  I  speak  with 
thee  ?"  Lysias  was  surprised  to  be  accosted  in  that  language 
by  one  whom  he  took  for  the  Egyptian  adventurer ;  and  he 
asked,  in  return,  if  he  had  been  mistaken  in  that  supposition. 
Paul  at  once  explained  his  familiarity  with  Greek,  and  asserted 
his  claim  to  considerate  treatment,  by  declaring  himself  to  be 
a  native  of  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,— "a  citizen  of  no  mean  city;" 
and  then  requested  that  he  might  be  allowed  on  the  spot  to 
address  the  people.  This  was  rather  a  strange  request ;  but 
it  was  granted  by  Lysias,  probably  in  the  knowledge  that  the 
prisoner  was  now  safe  from  the  mob,  and  in  the  hope  of 
gathering  some  information  for  his  own  guidance.  In  this 
expectation  he  was,  however,  disappointed,  for  Paul,  facing 

*  Thia  man  (a  Jew  doubtless)  had  come  from  Egypt  into  Judea, 
yhere  he  gave  himself  out  to  be  a  prophet,  and  collected  in  the  desert 
J0,000  men  (4,000  of  -whom  were  organized  Sicarii  or  "  murderers"), 
whom,  he  persuaded  to  follow  him  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  they 
jhould  see  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  fall  down  at  his  command,  so  that 
they  might  march  over  the  ruins  into  the  city,  purposing  to  take  the 
city  by  force,  seize  the  Roman  garrison,  and  assume  the  government 
of  the  people.  Felix,  however,  marched  out  against  him,  and  easily 
dispersed  his  host,  slaying  400  and  taking  200  prisoners ;  but  the  ad- 
venturer himself  escaped  with  some  of  his  most  attached  followers. 


400  FIFTY-FIRST   WEEK SATURDAY. 

round  on  the  stairs  where  he  stood,  and  making  with  his 
chained  hands  his  usual  motion  to  invite  attention,  began  to 
speak  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  of  which  Lysias  understood  not 
a  word.  Curious  to  know  what  so  notorious  a  heretic  could 
have  to  say,  and  charmed  by  the  accents  of  their  beloved 
tongue,  a  profound  stillness  was  immediately  obtained,  and 
not  a  word  Paul  uttered  was  unheard.  Indeed,  his  speech 
was,  up  to  the  point  which  he  purposely  reserved  to  the  last, 
admirably  suited  to  win  attention  and  dispel  prejudice,  by 
showing  that  he  was  not,  as  his  adversaries  alleged,  a  con- 
temner of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  of  the  religion  of  his  country, 
and  that  he  had  not  hastily  and  rashly,  but  only  for  most 
weighty  reasons,  embraced  the  Christian  faith.  He  showed 
that  he  was  a  Jew  born,  brought  up  in  the  strictest  principles 
of  their  religion,  and  who  had  hated,  persecuted,  and  en- 
deavored to  extinguish  Christianity.  He  then  recounted  the 
wonderful  circumstances  by  which  he  had  been  brought  to 
embrace  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  proceeded  to  mention  that 
he  afterwards,  while  praying  in  the  temple,  saw  Jesus,  and 
was  commanded  by  Him  to  leave  Jerusalem,  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  Gentiles. 

No  sooner  had  this  word  passed  his  lips,  than  the  dead 
silence  which  had  prevailed  was  suddenly  broken  by  the  most 
horrible  outcries  of  rage  and  indignation,  to  which  the  pre- 
vious uproar  was  as  nothing.  The  sea  of  heads  below  was 
broken  by  hands  tossed  tumultuously  aloft  in  ungovernable 
passion.  Many  cast  dust  into  the  air  in  frantic  expression  of 
their  rage,  while  others  tore  off  their  robes,  as  if  to  disen- 
cumber themselves  for  instant  vengeance,  and  over  all  the  cry 
arose  in  accents  of  intense  hissing  hate, — "  Away  with  such  a 
fellow  from  the  earth  !     It  is  not  fit  that  he  should  live !" 

Lysias,  who  had  not  understood  Paul's  speech,  could  only 
infer  from  these  signs  that  he  must  be  some  notable  offender. 
He,  therefore,  ordered  him  to  be  removed  into  the  castle ;  and 
that  the  truth  which,  as  it  seemed,  could  not  be  otherwise 
reached,  should  be  forced  from  the  prisoner  himself  by  the 
torture  of  the  scourge.     According  to  Roman  custom,  a  cen- 


THE   TOWER.  407 

turion  was  appointed  to  superintend  the  punishment,  as  was 
the  case  also  at  our  Lord's  crucifixion.  But  as  they  were 
strapping  the  apostle's  hands  and  feet  to  the  whipping-post, 
he  said  quietly  to  the  centurion,  "Is  it  lawful  for  you  to 
scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman,  and  uncondemned  ?"  The 
centurion  so  very  well  knew  that  it  was  not  only  not  lawful, 
but  was  a  highly  penal  offence  against  the  dignity  of  Roman 
citizenship,  that,  directing  the  executioner  to  stay  his  uplifted 
hand,  he  hurried  off  frightened  to  the  commandant,  and  said 
to  him,  "Take  heed  what  thou  doest,  for  this  man  is  a 
Roman."  On  hearing  this,  Lysias  himself  hastened  to  the 
spot,  and  asked  Paul  if  it  were  really  true  that  he  was  a 
Roman  citizen  ;  and,  on  his  answering  affirmatively,  remarked 
somewhat  incredulously,  that  this  high  privilege  had  cost  him- 
self a  large  sum  of  money.  We  know,  in  fact,  that  it  was  a 
purchasable  privilege,  and  that  its  price  was  very  high.  And 
that  Lysias  had  needed  so  to  acquire  it,  shows,  together  with 
his  name,  that  he  was  a  Greek  by  birth,  for  every  native  of 
Italy  was  born  a  citizen  of  Rome.  Paul  answered  simply, 
"  But  I  was  free  born."  He  was  of  course  instantly  released 
from  the  whipping-post,  and  the  executioner  dismissed.  But 
although  he  had  not  actually  been  scourged,  the  commandant 
knew  that,  in  case  the  prisoner  were  vindictive,  he  had  exposed 
himself  to  disgrace,  if  not  punishment,  by  having  bound  him  in 
order  to  his  being  scourged  like  a  slave.  All  was,  therefore, 
now  civility  and  attention ;  and  although  Lysias  could  not 
take  the  responsibility  of  releasing  him,  or  even  of  dispensing 
with  the  ordinary  bonds,  Paul  had  no  reason  to  complain  of 
the  treatment  he  received  in  the  Tower  of  Antonia. 


408  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK SUNDAY. 

MftQ-Qetotib  ttleek— Smrime. 

A    GOOD    CONSCIENCE. ACTS    XXII.    30 XXIII.  11. 

As  Lysias  saw  no  other  way  of  obtaining  information  for 
the  regulation  of  his  own  proceedings,  he  determined  to  pro- 
duce Paul  the  next  morning  before  the  Sanhedrim,  to  ascertain 
what  they  had  to  allege  against  him.  He  was  accordingly 
released  from  the  chains  which  had  bound  him  to  one  or  two 
soldiers,  and  introduced  to  the  council,  which  had  been  con- 
vened for  the  purpose  by  the  commandant,  who,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  governor  at  Csesarea,  seems  to  have  exercised  the 
chief  Roman  authority  at  Jerusalem. 

When  Paul  entered  the  assembly,  and  had  taken  his  place 
at  the  bar,  he  cast  a  steadfast  and  scrutinizing  glance  around 
upon  its  members — noting  the  changes  that  had  taken  place 
since,  now  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  he  had  received  from  it 
his  memorable  commission  to  Damascus, — recognizing  many 
faces  with  which  he  was  familiar,  though  somewhat  changed 
by  lapse  of  years  ;  and  gathering  from  what  he  observed  inti- 
mations for  his  own  defence.  It  was  but  for  a  moment ;  and 
then  he  began, — "  Men  and  brethren,  I  have  lived  in  all  good 
conscience  before  God  unto  this  day."  At  the  first  view,  we, 
who  are  acquainted  with  so  much  of  his  course  of  life,  are  in- 
clined cordially  to  endorse  this  testimony.  But,  at  the  second 
thought,  a  question  arises  whether  he  means  this  to  apply  to 
the  whole  of  his  life,  or  only  to  that  portion  of  it  since  his  con- 
version. Some  have  taken  the  latter  alternative,  in  order  to 
avoid  an  apparent  difficulty ;  but  the  tone  of  the  statement, 
and  the  circumstances  which  surround  it,  will  not  permit  us  to 
consent  to  this  limitation.  The  period  which  his  assertion 
covers  must,  therefore,  include  that  in  which  he  was  one  of 
the  greatest  enemies  of  the  church  of  Christ,  persecuting  it  and 
wasting  it  "  beyond  measure"  (to  use  his  own  expression),  and 
with   unrelenting  barbarity  and  inveterate  hate.      Does  he 


A    GOOD    CONSCIENCE.  409 

mean,  then,  to  assert  that  he  lived  in  as  "good  conscience  to- 
wards God"  at  that  period,  as  at  the  time  he  spoke,  or  any- 
other  time  of  his  life  ?  He  certainly  did  not,  in  the  sense 
usually  understood.  He  could  not.  It  was  impossible  to  one 
who,  so  often  as  he  does,  laments  his  guilt,  and  acknowledges 
his  offence,  and  sets  himself  down  as  the  chief  of  sinners, 
"  because  he  persecuted  the  church  of  Christ."  Therefore, 
although  he  states  that  "  he  did  it  ignorantly,  in  unbelief ;" 
and  although  he  alleges  that  at  one  time  he  thought  in  him- 
self that  he  "  ought  to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,"  yet,  no  one  knew  better  than  he  that 
he  was  not  thereby  excusable ;  for  possessing,  as  he  did  be- 
yond most  men  of  his  time,  the  means  of  knowledge,  he  was 
responsible  for  his  ignorance,  and  for  the  thoughts  to  which 
that  ignorance  gave  birth.  Hence  he  was  not  justified ,  ex- 
cused, or  exonerated  because  of  his  ignorance  ;  but  pardoned 
— "obtained  mercy" — as  one  who  had  been  an  offender. 
Pardon  is  for  the  guilty ;  vindication  for  the  innocent. 

Let  us  not,  therefore,  think  that  we  may  gather  from  Paul's 
declaration  the  perilous  doctrine,  that  we  are  to  be  held  ex- 
cused for  the  wrong  we  do,  if  it  be  but  done  with  a  good  in- 
tention ;  and  that,  if  a  man  be  but  sincere,  and  means  well  at 
the  time,  his  conduct,  if  not  entitled  to  praise,  is  to  be  pitied 
rather  than  blamed,  and  will  not  be  laid  to  his  account  in  the 
chancery  of  heaven.  This  is  one  of  those  dangerous  maxims 
which  a  sickly  liberality  sanctions  with  its  applause.  But  it  is 
surely  not  difficult  to  see  that  this  principle,  if  carried  out  to 
its  fair  and  legitimate  consequences,  forms  an  apology  for  the 
atrocities  of  a  Clement  or  a  Ravaillac,  or  of  any  infuriate 
fanatic  who  might  imagine  himself  an  instrument  chosen  by 
Providence  to  avenge  the  cause  of  Heaven.  Indeed,  it  may- 
be questioned  whether,  if  the  plea  of  good  intentions  be  ad- 
mitted, it  would  not  effect  a  general  goal  delivery  throughout 
the  world ;  for  there  are  few  of  the  crimes  which  men  commit, 
for  which  a  good  intention  of  some  kind  or  other  might  not 
be  alleged.  Let  us  understand  that  we  are  responsible,  not 
only  for  our  belief,  not  only  for  our  intentions,  but  for  the  use 

vol.  iv.  18 


410  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK SUNDAY. 

we  have  made  of  the  means  and  opportunities  we  have  hac  of 
learning  whether  our  intentions  would  stand  "  good "  before 
God  or  not. 

Still,  the  question  has  not  been  answered,  "  If  Paul  means 
nothing  of  all  this,  what  then  does  he  mean  I"  Simply  this : 
That  he  purposely  chooses  a  word,  which  of  many  Greek 
words  expressing  divers  manners  of  life,  limits  his  meaning  to 
political  conduct,  life  as  a  citizen  or  a  member  of  the  com- 
munity. The  charge  against  him  was,  as  he  knew,  that  he  had 
been  an  unfaithful  and  seditious  member  of  the  Jewish  com- 
munity (in  which  the  religion  and  the  civil  polity  were  closely 
connected,  if  not  identical) ;  and  by  an  anticipatory  repulsion 
of  this  charge  he  declares  that  his  conscience  bare  witness  that 
his  conduct,  as  a  member  of  the  Hebrew  community,  had  been 
blameless  to  that  day.  It  needs  but  a  glance  at  the  text  to 
show  that  this  is  the  real  and  only  meaning,  and  translators 
are  not  to  be  blamed  that  the  English  language  has  no  one 
word,  which  would  convey  the  meaning  of  the  Greek  word 
adequately.  It  is  likely,  however,  that  Paul  intended  to  ex- 
plain himself  more  fully  had  he  not  been  interrupted. 

This  bold  assertion  so  irritated  the  acting  high  priest, 
Ananias,  who  then  presided  in  the  Sanhedrim,  that  he  ordered 
those  who  stood  by  Paul — the  apparitors  and  ushers  of  the 
court — to  smite  him  on  the  mouth,  a  well-known  sign  of 
abhorrence  and  rebuke  for  the  words  he  had  uttered.  This  is 
still  done  in  the  East,  and  the  stroke  is  then  usually,  at  this 
word  of  command,  inflicted  damagingly  to  the  mouth,  with 
the  heel  of  a  shoe  ;  hence  "  Give  him  the  shoe  !"  "  Give  him 
plenty  of  shoe  !"  are  well  understood  expressions.  Paul's  was 
one  of  those  quick  tempers  which  may  be  readily  kindled, 
even  to  some  intemperance,  under  the  instant  pressure  of 
flagrant  wrong.  He  therefore  retorted  with  some  heat,  "  God 
shall  smite  thee,  thou  whited  wall !  For  sittest  thou  to  judge 
me  according  to  the  law,  and  commandest  me  to  be  smitten 
contrary  to  the  law  J"  In  calling  Ananias  a  "  whited  wall," 
he  compared  him  to  those  walls  composed  of  mud,  dung,  and 
other  vile  materials,  which  being  plastered  and  whitewashed 


A    GOOD    CONSCIENCE  411 

made  a  fair  show  without.  The  doom  upon  Ananias,  which 
Paul  thus  denounced,  was  prophetic,  and  was  afterwards  ful- 
filled in  the  violent  death  of  that  personage.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  delivered  with  too  much  warmth,  and  perhaps  vindictive 
eagerness.  He  was  himself,  like  most  quick-tempered  persons, 
sensible  of  this  the  moment  after ;  for  when  reproved  for  it  by 
those  who  stood  near,  he  ingeniously  acknowledged  his  error, 
and  pleaded  in  excuse  that  he  had  not  at  the  moment  recol- 
lected the  dignity  of  the  office  which  Ananias  filled,  or  he 
would  more  guardedly  have  expressed  himself.  "  The  best  of 
men,"  as  Scott  remarks  on  this  case,  "  are  liable,  when  greatly 
injured  and  insulted,  to  be  put  off  their  guard ;  and  even  that 
zeal  and  faithfulness  which  the  Holy  Spirit  dictates,  in  warn- 
ing sinners  of  approaching  ruin,  will  sometimes  be  mingled 
with  the  remains  of  our  sinful  passions,  and  prompt  us  to  speak 
unadvisedly  with  our  lips.  But  whether  in  reality,  or  only  in 
appearance,  we  speak  or  act  inconsistently  with  the  Divine 
precepts,  it  is,  in  general,  advisable  to  decline  a  strenuous 
justification  of  ourselves,  and  to  admit  that  our  conduct  was 
in  some  respects  unfit  for  imitation." 

Another  circumstance  now  occurred,  which,  together  with 
the  one  just  noticed,  proved  how  imperfect  are  the  best  of  men, 
and  how  wretched  would  be  our  state  if  we  had  no  better 
righteousness  than  our  own  to  cover  us,  since  even  the  holy 
Paul  was  more  than  once  tempted  to  act  an  inconsistent  part. 
Seeing  no  other  means  by  which  he  might  escape  the  deter- 
mined malice  of  his  judges,  he  resolved  to  extricate  himself 
by  setting  them  at  strife  against  each  other ;  and  as  he  knew 
that  some  of  them  were  Pharisees,  and  the  others  Sadducees, 
who  differed  widely  in  their  ideas  of  a  resurrection,  he  made 
his  case  a  party  business,  by  declaring  that  it  was  for  the  hope 
of  the  resurrection  that  he  was  called  in  question.  This  had 
exactly  the  effect  contemplated,  for  it  roused  their  animosity 
against  each  other,  the  Pharisees  siding  with  him,  and  the 
Sadducees  against  him ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  riot  which 
ensued,  his  life  was  in  danger  of  being  forfeited  to  his  own 
contrivance,  had  not  the  commandant  interposed,  and,  with- 


412  FIFTY-SECOXD    WEEK MONDAY. 

drawing  him  by  force  from  the  council  chamber,  conducted 
him  back  safely  to  the  castle.  Many  writers  conceive  that 
Paul  was  justified  in  the  course  he  thus  took,  and  that  the 
Lord's  appearance  to  him  afterwards  was  a  tacit  approval  of 
his  conduct.  But  it  will  appear  as  if  Paul  himself  had  some 
misgiving  of  conscience  concerning  it,  for  he  alleged  before 
Felix  that  the  only  thing  that  with  any  justice  the  Jews  could 
lay  to  his  charge  was  his  conduct  on  this  occasion.  Acts  xxiv. 
20,  21. 

Still,  the  Lord  did  appear  to  him  the  ensuing  night,  com- 
forting him  ;  but  with  such  comfort  as  a  worldly  person  would 
gladly  have  dispensed  with.  The  Lord  said — "Be  of  good 
cheer,  Paul,  for  as  thou  hast  testified  of  me  in  Jerusalem,  so 
must  thou  bear  witness  also  at  Rome."  This  was  the  same 
as  to  say  that,  as  he  had  suffered  much,  labored  much  for  his 
Lord's  sake,  so  there  was  much  more  suffering  and  labor  for 
His  sake  yet  to  undergo.  But  this  was  in  fact  the  most  ef- 
fective comfort  to  the  apostle  ;  for  he  had  no  greater  joy  than 
the  advancement  of  the  Gospel,  at  whatever  expense  of  pain 
or  suffering  to  himself. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK— MONDAY. 

FELIX. ACTS   XXIII.  12 XXIV.  26. 

Josephus  relates  that,  in  the  time  of  Herod  the  Great,  ten 
men — whose  conduct  he  plainly  regards  with  no  displeasure — 
bound  themselves  by  solemn  oaths  to  assassinate  the  king, 
whom  they  deemed  an  apostate ;  and  that,  when  their  plot 
was  discovered,  they  maintained  to  the  last  that  the  conspir- 
acy they  had  sworn  to  was  a  holy  and  pious  action.  In  like 
manner,  and  probably  with  like  convictions  that  they  were 
doing  God  service,  more  than  forty  Hebrew  fanatics  took  a 
vow  that  they  would  neither  eat  nor  drink  till  they  had  slain 
Paul.  But  how  were  they  to  get  at  him,  seeing  that  he  was 
shut  up  in  a  strong  fortress  ? 


FELIX.  413 

They  repaired  to  the  leading  members  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
whose  character  they  knew  well  enough  to  be  assured  of  their 
complicity  and  aid,  and  unreservedly  informed  them  of  their 
purpose,  and  invited  them  to  provide  the  opportunity  for  its 
execution.  It  was  suggested  to  them  that,  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  council,  they  should  send  to  the  commandant  a  re- 
quest that  he  would  produce  the  prisoner  before  them,  as  they 
were  desirous  of  resuming  the  inquiry  which  had  been  so  tu- 
rn ultuously  interrupted ;  and  the  applicants,  on  their  part, 
promised  to  await  him  on  the  way,  and  to  take  special  care 
that  he  should  not  reach  the  council  chamber  alive.  It  is 
likely  that  at  least  one  of  the  persous  to  whom  the  plot  be- 
came known  felt  some  interest  in  Paul's  safety,  if  not  abhor- 
rence at  the  intended  crime,  and  that  it  was  thus  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  frustration  made  known  to  Paul's  nephew — 
his  "  sister's  son" — who  seems  to  have  been  a  resident  in  Jeru- 
salem. This  young  man,  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  beloved 
uncle,  to  whom  free  access  of  friends  was  allowed,  hastened  to 
the  fortress,  and  imparted  to  him  the  intelligence.  On  hear- 
ing this,  Paul  called  one  of  the  centurions,  and  requested  him 
to  conduct  the  young  man  to  the  commandant,  to  whom  he 
had  something  to  impart.  Lysias,  who  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  barrack -yard  when  the  nephew  was  introduced  to  him 
with  this  intimation,  took  him  kindly  by  the  hand,  and  lead- 
ing him  aside,  cautiously  asked  what  it  was  that  he  wished  to 
say.  On  repeating  what  he  had  heard,  the  commandant  saw 
at  once  the  proper  course  to  be  taken  ;  but,  without  disclosing 
his  intention,  dismissed  the  young  man  with  injunctions  to  se- 
crecy. As  one  accountable  for  the  safety  of  a  Roman  citizen, 
in  whom  he  by  this  time  felt  some  interest,  and  as  one  respon- 
sible for  the  public  peace,  which  might  be  seriously  endanger- 
ed by  this  attempt,  he  determined  to  send  Paul  away  that 
very  night,  under  a  strong  escort,  to  Caesarea,  and  leave  the 
matter  in  the  hands  of  the  procurator  Felix,  who  resided  there. 
He  directed  the  needful  preparations  to  be  made,  and  mean- 
while wrote  to  the  governor  a  despatch,  which  is  a  fine  model 
of  Roman  official  correspondence.     It  is  a  fair  and  clear  state- 


414  FIFIY-SECOND    WEEK — MONDAY. 

ment  of  the  case,  except  in  one  point,  concerning  his  own 
conduct ;  for  he  says  that  he  rescued  Paul  from  the  mob  in 
the  first  instance,  because  he  had  learned  that  he  wat  a  Ro- 
man citizen,  whereas  in  fact  he  did  not  learn  this  till  afterwards. 
We  may  be  sure  also  that  he  did  not  say  a  word  about  his 
purpose  of  scourging  this  Roman  citizen. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  Paul  riding  on 
horseback  between  the  horses  of  the  two  Roman  soldiers,  to 
whom  he  was  chained,  was  conducted  from  the  city  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  force  composed  of  nearly  five  hundred  men, — 
that  is  two  hundred  legionary  soldiers  on  foot,  seventy  of  the 
cavalry,  and  two  hundred  lancers.  Only  the  horsemen,  how- 
ever, were  to  proceed  all  the  way ;  the  foot  soldiers  being  to 
return  as  soon  as  they  had  conducted  Paul  beyond  the  reach 
of  danger  from  Jerusalem,  and  there  was  no  more  to  be  ap- 
prehended from  the  bands  of  outlaws,  who  in  that  age  ren- 
dered all  travelling  dangerous.  This  point  was  attained  at 
Antipatris,  which,  after  travelling  hard  all  night,  they  seem  to 
have  reach  early  in  the  forenoon.  Here  they,  doubtless,  rest- 
ed, and  then  separated,  the  foot  soldiers  marching  back  to  Je- 
rusalem, and  the  horsemen  proceeding  to  Csesarea.  Antipa- 
tris was  a  town  built  by  Herod  the  Great  on  the  plain  of  the 
coast,  nearly  forty-six  miles  north-north-west  from  Jerusalem, 
and  twenty-six  south  by  east  from  Csesarea.  The  ruins  of  an 
ancient  Roman  road  still  indicate  the  route  by  which  Paul 
was  conveyed  thither  from  Jerusalem,  and  which  at  this  time 
was,  doubtless,  the  principal  line  of  travel  and  transport  be- 
tween that  city  and  the  Mediterranean  coast. 

On  reaching  Csesarea,  the  escort  proceeded  at  once  to  the 
palace  to  yield  up  their  prisoner,  and  to  deliver  the  despatch 
from  Lysias  to  the  procurator.  Felix  broke  the  seal,  and  hav- 
ing read  the  letter,  looked  up,  and  asked  the  prisoner  to  what 
province  he  belonged, — a  question  very  needful  to  ask  in  an 
age  when  disputes  were  continually  arising  between  the 
Roman  governors  about  their  inter-provincial  rights.  When 
Felix  heard  that  the  prisoner  was  of  Cilicia,  the  governor  of 
which  was  a  near  friend  of  his  own,  he  said :  "  I  will  hear  thee 


FELIX.  415 

when  thine  accusers  are  also  come," — Lysias  having  intimated 
as  the  close  of  his  despatch  that  he  should  direct  them  to  pro- 
ceed to  Csesarea  to  make  their  charge  before  the  governor  in 
person.  Meanwhile  Paul  was  conveyed  to  the  custody  of  a 
centurion,  who  was  directed  to  keep  him  in  the  guard-room 
of  Herod's  praetorium.* 

Five  days  after  Paul's  arrrival  at  Csesarea,  his  accusers  made 
their  appearance,  headed  by  the  high  priest  Ananias,  and  for- 
tified by  the  presence  of  a  noted  law-pleader  named  Tertul- 
lus,  whose  services  had  been  secured  for  the  occasion.  There 
were  many  persons  of  this  sort  versed  in  the  Roman  law,  and 
speaking  the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues,  of  whose  services  the 
natives  availed  themselves  in  those  cases  they  had  to  bring 
before  the  Roman  tribunals.  It  was  even  usual  for  the  young 
lawyers  of  Rome  to  go  into  the  provinces  with  the  consuls  and 
praetors,  that,  by  managing  the  causes  of  the  provincials,  they 
might  qualify  themselves  for  the  more  important  affairs  at 
Rome. 

As  soon  as  the  governor  had  taken  his  seat  upon  his  raised 
tribunal  in  the  judgment  hall  of  the  praetorium,  the  prisoner 
was  sent  for ;  and,  on  his  arrival,  Tertullus  at  once  opened  the 
case,  which  he  managed  with  great  dexterity,  as  far  as  we  can 
judge  from  the  brief  outline  of  his  speech  which  Luke  has 
given.  He  began  by  complimenting  the  governor.  It  was 
difficult  to  do  this  without  offending  his  employers  :  for  Felix 
was  both  a  bad  governor  and  a  bad  man,  and  unpopular  even 
to  hatred  among  the  Jews.  He,  therefore,  rested  his  compli- 
ments upon  the  only  meritorious  actions  the  procurator  had 

*  The  word  praetorium  properly  denoted  the  residence  of  the  Roman 
provincial  governors,  at  which  they  administered  justice.  Hence  it 
came  to  be  applied  to  the  abode  of  any  king  or  prince,  or  even  to  any 
magnificent  palatial  building.  If  here  the  word  praetorium  had 
been  alone  used,  -we  should  have  understood  that  it  was  the  palace 
which  Felix  occupied,  even  though  built  by  Herod  ;  but  as  it  is  thus 
distinctly  indicated,  it  seems  rather  to  denote  some  other  palace  built 
by  Herod,  and  now  appropriated  to  public  uses,  but  not  to  the  resi- 
dence of  the  governors.  As  in  our  old  castles,  there  were  prison 
chambers  in  all  such  buildings. 


416  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — MONDAY. 

ever  performed, — the  clearance  of  the  country  from  freebc  oters, 
and  the  suppression  of  seditious  fanatics,  whereby  the  land 
enjoyed  comparative  quiet.  This  was  also  very  adroit  as  a 
preparation  for  his  accusation  of  Paul,  as  one  of  the  sort  by 
whom  that  peace  had  been  disturbed.  The  accusation  itself 
consisted  of  three  counts — that  Paul  was  a  "  pestilent  fellow, 
and  a  mover  of  sedition  among  all  the  Jews  throughout  the 
world  ;"  that  he  was  "  a  ringleader  of  the  sect  of  the  Naza- 
renes;"  and  that  he  had  attempted  the  profanation  of  the 
temple.  In  the  end,  he  ventured  to  reflect  slightly  upon  the 
conduct  of  Lysias,  who  had,  he  said,  with  great  violence  inter- 
posed and  taken  the  prisoner  out  of  their  hands  when  they 
had  apprehended  him,  and  were  about  to  judge-him  according 
to  their  law. 

When  Tertullus  had  done,  the  governor  asked  the  Jews 
whether  they  accepted  this  as  a  correct  statement  of  their  case ; 
and  when  they  had  assented,  he  nodded  to  the  prisoner  to 
proceed  with  his  defence.  In  commencing,  Paul  waived 
all  compliments ;  but  he  expressed  his  satisfaction  that  his 
cause  would  be  heard  by  one,  whose  unusually  long  tenure  of 
office  in  that  country  had  given  hi  in  so  much  experience  in  its 
affairs,  as  would  enable  him  to  understand  the  merits  of  the 
case.  He  then  gave  effective  answers  to  all  the  points  which 
Tertullus  had  advanced.  As  to  his  being  "  a  mover  of  sedi- 
tion among  the  Jews  throughout  the  world,"  Felix  having  no 
authority  in  matters  beyond  his  own  jurisdiction,  Paul  con- 
fined himself  to  his  conduct  at  Jerusalem.  He  had  been  there 
but  a  few  days,  and  during  that  time  he  had  not  opened  his 
mouth  in  public,  and  he  defied  any  one  to  produce  evidence 
that,  either  by  word  or  deed,  he  had  done  aught  tending  to 
excite  disturbance.  As  to  his  being  a  ringleader  of  the  sect  of 
the  Nazarenes,  he  confessed  that,  after  the  manner  which  they 
called  sectarian,  he  worshipped  the  same  God  that  they  did ; 
but  he  denied  that  Christianity  deserved  the  stigma  of  that 
term.  Its  doctrines  were  no  new  fangled  things,  but  they  were 
to  be  found  in  those  sacred  books  in  which  he  believed  as 
firmly  as  they  did,  and  entertained  the  same  hope  that  they 


FELIX.  417 

did  of  a  resurrection  from  the  dead.  As  to  the  profanation 
of  the  temple,  nothing  specific  on  that  point  had  been  alleged ; 
and  if  it  had  been  alleged,  the  Ephesian  Jews  who  had  made 
the  accusation  ought  to  have  been  present  as  witnesses  against 
him.  He  had  been  there  as  a  peaceable  stranger,  who,  after 
many  years  of  absence  in  foreign  lands,  had  come  in  charge 
of  alms  for  the  poor  of  his  own  nation. 

The  case  against  Paul  had  so  visibly  broken  down  under 
this  answer,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  such  evidence  as  both 
the  Roman  and  the  Jewish  law  required,  that  Felix  ought 
clearly  to  have  pronounced  his  acquittal,  and  to  have  set  him 
at  liberty.  But  Felix  was  unwilling  to  offend  the  most  influ- 
ential men  among  the  Jews,  by  deciding  against  them  in  a 
matter  in  which  they  had  evinced  so  much  interest.  It  strikes 
us  that  Paul's  mention  of  the  money,  with  which  he  had  so 
lately  been  charged,  and  over  which  it  might  be  supposed  he 
had  still  some  control,  may  have  roused  the  notorious  cupidity 
of  the  governor,  and  excited  the  hope  that  he  might  get  some 
of  it  into  his  hands  by  detaining  Paul  as  a  prisoner.  He 
therefore  adjourned  the  cause,  ostensibly  on  the  ground  that 
he  wished  to  hear  Lysias  before  he  came  to  a  decision.  Paul 
was  then  remanded  into  custody:  the  centurion  who  had 
charge  of  him,  however,  was  enjoined  not  to  put  him  in  close 
confinement,  but  to  allow  him  as  much  liberty  as  consisted 
with  his  safe  detention,  and  not  to  prevent  him  from  seeing 
his  friends  and  receiving  their  attentions. 

This  was  a  precious  boon  to  him,  and  helped  much  to 
render  his  protracted  confinement  cheerful,  for  there  were 
those  at  Caesarea  who  would  count  it  the  highest  privilege  to 
minister  to  his  comfort.  Philip,  the  evangelist,  resided  there 
with  his  family ;  Cornelius,  the  centurion,  if  still  there,  may 
have  been  quartered  in  the  barracks  of  the  Prsetorium ;  the 
beloved  Timothy  was  always  by  his  side,  except  when  away 
on  some  errand  to  a  distant  church ;  and  as  we  find  Luke  and 
Aristarchus  with  him  at  the  time  of  his  embarkation  for  Rome, 
it  is  supposable  that  they  had  been  at  Caesarea  all  the  time  of 
his  detention. 

IS* 


418  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK MONDAY-. 

Soon  after  Paul's  trial  Felix  left  Csesarea,  and  on  his  return 
was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  the  beautiful  Drusilla,  daugh  ler 
of  the  late  King  Herod-Agrippa,  and  sister  of  the  younger 
Agrippa,  of  whom  we  shall  presently  hear.  This  lady,  whose 
beauty  is  reported  as  something  wonderful,  had  been  seduced 
away  from  her  husband,  Azizus,  king  of  Emesa,  by  the  Roman 
procurator,  and  was  now,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  her  age, 
living  with  him  as  his  wife,  or  rather  as  his  paramour.  Soon 
after  their  arrival,  Paul  was  sent  for  to  the  private  apartments 
of  the  palace,  where  he  found  Felix  and  Drusilla,  who  wished 
to  have  the  Christian  doctrine  explained  to  them  by  one  of 
its  greatest  and  most  renowned  teachers.  This  was,  perhaps, 
at  the  instigation  of  Drusilla,  who  might  naturally  wish  to 
see  and  hear  a  man  whose  name  must  have  been  familiar  to 
her  from  the  time  she  was  a  little  girl.  It  would  appear  from 
what  passed,  that  the  presence  of  Drusilla  awakened  in  the 
mind  of  the  apostle  a  full  recollection  of  all  he  had  known 
and  heard  of  the  governor's  public  and  private  profligacy,  his 
oppression,  his  cruelty,  and  his  injustice  ;  and,  doubtless,  his 
heart  bled  to  see  there  that  daughter  of  a  royal  line,  the  love- 
liest of  the  damsels  of  Israel,  sitting  in  dishonor  beside  that 
unprincipled  old  man,  who  had  waded  through  a  sea  of  low 
vices  and  high  crime  from  the  condition  of  a  slave  to  an 
equality  with  kings.  Paul  knew  that  this  man  had  his  life  in 
his  hands,  yet  he  was  not  deterred  from  speaking  directly  to 
the  conscience  of  that  hardened  sinner.  He  spoke  of  that 
"justice"  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  which  Felix  had  habitu- 
ally disregarded  ;  he  spoke  of  that  "  continence,"  which  Felix 
had  so  flagrantly  violated  ;  and  he  spoke  of  that  "judgment 
to  come,"  from  which  there  was  no  escape,  and  no  appeal. 
As  he  spoke  of  these  things,  even  Felix  trembled ;  and,  rising 
hastily,  he  put  an  end  to  the  audience,  expressing  an  inten- 
tion of  sending  for  him  again  when  he  should  be  able  to  find 
convenient  time. 

In  fact,  he  did  send  for  him  from  time  to  time,  and  con- 
versed with  him  freely.  What  was  the  substance  of  these 
conversations  we  do  not  know.     But  Paul  was  a  man  of 


KING    AGRIPPA.  419 

education  and  high  endowments,  who  had  made  extensivo 
observations  in  different  countries,  so  that  his  conversation 
might  seem  useful  and  interesting  even  to  mere  worldlings 
like  Felix ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  Paul  lost  no  opportunity 
that  offered  of  rendering  these  interviews  profitable,  and  even 
if  no  salutary  impression  was  made  upon  his  own  heart,  some- 
thing would  be  gained  by  supplying  a  man  having  so  much 
power  in  his  hands,  with  correct  views  respecting  the  Chris- 
tians, and  their  relation  to  the  Jews.  But  it  would  seem  from 
a  hint  given  by  Luke,  that  the  procurator  wished  also  to 
ascertain  the  position,  means,  and  influence  of  the  prisoner,  in 
order  to  find  whether  any  likelihood  existed  of  a  good  sum  of 
money  being  raised  for  his  liberation.  He  probably  intimated 
to  Paul  that  his  deliverance  might  not  in  that  case  be  difficult. 
But  the  hint  was  not  taken  ;  and  when,  after  two  years,  Felix 
was  recalled  to  Rome,  he  left  Paul  in  prison,  as  an  act  of 
courtesy  to  the  Jewish  authorities. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

KING    AGRIPPA. ACTS    XXV. -XXVI. 

The  new  governor  of  Judea,  Porcius  Festus,  though  not 
without  faults,  was  a  far  better,  and  more  honest  man  than 
his  predecessor  ;  and  with  some  little  abatement,  arising  from 
his  wish  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  nation  newly  come 
under  his  rule,  his  proceedings  bore  the  stamp  of  straight- 
forwardness and  firmness,  which  became  his  office  well,  and 
which  it  is  refreshing  to  contemplate  after  the  mean  truckling 
of  a  Felix. 

Three  days  after  his  arrival  at  Caesarea,  he  paid  the  Jews 
the  compliment  of  going  up  to  Jerusalem.  Of  course,  his  first 
interview  was  with  the  high-priest.  This  person  was  Ishmael, 
lately  appointed  to  that  office  by  Agrippa,  on  whom  the 
emperor   had   bestowed  the  administration   of  ecclesiastical 


4^0  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK TUESDAY. 

matters  and  preferments.  But  although  there  was  a  new 
high-priest,  and  although  two  years  had  elapsed,  the  case  of 
Paul  had  lost  none  of  its  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jewish 
authorities,  and  the  high-priest  actually  brought  the  matter 
forward,  pressing  the  governor  to  give  judgment  against  Paul. 
But  Festus,  with  all  his  wish  to  render  himself  agreeable,  re- 
coiled at  the  iniquity  of  this  proposition,  and  answered  with 
some  sternness,  in  words  worthy  of  old  Rome  :  "  It  is  not  the 
manner  of  the  Romans  to  deliver  any  man  to  die,  before  that 
he  which  is  accused  have  the  accusers  face  to  face,  and  have 
license  to  answer  for  himself  concerning  the  crime  laid  against 
him."  On  this,  the  high-priest  and  chief-priests  begged  as  a 
favor  that  the  trial  might  be  held  at  Jerusalem,  secretly  pur- 
posing, as  Luke  assures  us,  to  get  him  murdered  on  the  way. 
It  does  not  seem  to  us  that,  as  some  think,  their  request 
amounted  to  an  application  to  have  him  tried  at  their  own 
tribunal ;  for  they  must  have  known  that  in  the  case  of  a 
Roman  citizen,  Festus  would  not  consent  to  this ;  but  that  he 
should  send  for  him  there,  and  try  him  during  his  present  visit  at 
Jerusalem.  To  this  also  Festus  objected,  that  this  was  scarcely 
worth  while,  as  he  was  about  to  return  immediately  to  Csesarea ; 
but  he  courteously  invited  such  as  were  interested  in  the  case 
to  go  down  with  him,  and  accuse  the  man  before  him.  This 
course  was  taken ;  and  the  very  day  after  his  return,  Festus 
took  his  seat  in  judgment,  and  ordered  Paul  to  be  brought  in. 
The  accusation  was  the  same  as  before,  and  the  absence  of  any 
proof  was  equally  apparent.  Paul,  in  his  defence,  was  con- 
tent to  deny  the  charges  altogether :  "  Neither  against  the  law 
of  the  Jews,  neither  against  the  temple,  nor  yet  against  Caesar, 
have  I  offended  anything  at  all."  The  Jews,  seeing  the  failure 
of  their  case,  seem  to  have  again  pressed  for  his  trial  being  re- 
moved to  Jerusalem,  alleging  probably  that  more  effectual  evi- 
dence could  be  produced  on  the  spot.  Festus  being  willing 
to  oblige  the  Jews  as  far  as  he  safely  might,  then  asked  the 
prisoner  if  he  would  consent  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  be  tried 
there — " Before  me"  he  added  ;  to  show  that  he  would  not 
even  there  have  any  other  judge  than  at  Caesarea,  and  thus 


KING    AGRIPPA.  42l 

intimating  his  willingness  to  take  the  trouble  of  going  to 
Jerusalem  on  this  business.  This  put  Paul  rather  in  a  dilemma. 
He  could  not  well  object  to  the  equity  of  this  course ;  but  at 
the  same  time,  he  had  credible  information,  which  he  could 
not  substantiate  there,  nor,  out  of  regard  to  his  informant, 
produce  his  authority  for  it,  that  this  course  would  be  his 
destruction.  There  was,  therefore,  but  one  step  open  to  him, 
and  he  took  it.  This  stayed  all  further  proceedings  in  the 
case,  either  at  Caesarea  or  Jerusalem,  by  lodging  an  appeal  to 
the  tribunal  of  the  emperor  at  Rome.  This  appeal,  he  as  a 
Roman  citizen,  had  a  right  to  make,  and  no  one  could  dis- 
allow it ;  and  it  became  the  duty  of  the  magistrate  with  whom 
it  was  lodged,  to  forward  the  appellant  without  any  avoidable 
delay  to  the  seat  of  empire.  Accordingly,  Festus,  after  con- 
ferring with  his  assessors  in  judgment,  said,  "Hast  thou 
appealed  unto  Caesar  ?  unto  Caesar  shalt  thou  go."  It  was, 
doubtless,  with  considerable  relief  and  satisfaction  that  the 
governor  saw  himself  fairly  rid  of  a  business,  which  was  as- 
suming an  unpleasant  aspect,  and  by  which  he  began  to  be 
perplexed. 

Not  long  after  this  King  Agrippa,  with  his  sister  Bernice, 
arrived  at  Caesarea  to  pay  his  compliments  to  the  new  gov- 
ernor. He  was  the  son  of  Herod-Agrippa,  by  his  excellent 
wife  Cypros.  He  was  at  Rome  with  Claudius  when  his  father 
died  ;  and  the  emperor,  who  was  fond  of  him,  was  minded  to 
bestow  on  him  all  his  father's  kingdom,  until  his  friends 
pointed  out  the  inexpedience  of  entrusting  so  large  a  realm  to 
one  so  young.  Eventually,  however,  \>y  successive  grants  from 
Claudius  and  from  Nero,  he  did  obtain  a  large  proportion  of 
his  father's  kingdom  ;  and  at  this  time  his  dominion  com- 
prised a  large  territory  east  of  the  Jordan  and  Lebanon,  with 
a  part  of  Galilee.  Having  been  brought  up  at  Rome,  he  was 
strongly  attached  to  the  Romans  ;  and  in  the  troubles  which 
soon  arose,  he  did  his  best  to  maintain  or  restore  peace  be- 
tween them  and  the  Jews  ;  but  finding  all  his  endeavors  use- 
less, he  joined  his  forces  to  those  of  the  Romans,  and  took 
part  with  them  in  the  siege  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 


422  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK TUESDAY. 

After  that  sad  event  he  retired  to  Rome,  and  lived  there  to  the 
age  of  seventy.  Bernice,  his  sister,  whose  personal  attractions 
were  scarcely  inferior  to  those  of  her  sister  Drusilla,  had  been 
early  married  to  her  uncle  Herod,  king  of  Chalcis,  and  on  his 
death  had  become  the  wife  of  Polemon,  king  of  Pontus ;  but 
at  this  time  she  had  left  her  husband,  and  returned  to  her 
brother  Agrippa,  with  whom  she  continued  to  live  in  a 
manner  which  caused  much  public  scandal,  and  was  very 
little  to  the  credit  of  either. 

Agrippa  had  not  been  long  at  Caesarea  before  Festus  men- 
tioned the  case  of  Paul  to  him,  as  a  matter  in  which  his  guest 
was  likely  to  feel  some  interest.  His  recital  of  what  had  taken 
place  included  his  opinion,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  he  had 
been  led  to  expect  had  appeared  at  the  trial,  and  all  that 
transpired  had  been  "  certain  questions  about  their  own  super- 
stition," and,  as  he  scoffingly  remarked,  "  about  one  dead 
Jesus,  whom  Paul  affirmed  to  be  alive."  He  clearly  did  not 
believe  Paul  in  the  right  as  to  this ;  but  he  as  clearly  did  not 
see  that  he  was  judicially  punishable  for  a  crotchet  so  absurd  ! 

Agrippa  was  so  far  interested  in  this  account  as  to  con- 
ceive a  desire  to  hear  Paul  for  himself.  Accordingly,  the  next 
day  a  high  court  was  held,  at  which  Festus  and  his  two  guests 
appeared  in  state,  attended  by  their  great  officers  and  military 
commanders. 

Paul  having  been  produced,  Festus  made  a  brief  address, 
constituting  the  court  one  of  inquiry — stating  that  this  per- 
son, having  appealed  unto  Caesar,  must  be  sent  to  Rome ;  and 
that  he  wished,  by  the  help  of  Agrippa,  to  ascertain  with  what 
offence  he  might  be  charged,  in  the  despatch  it  would  be 
needful  to  send  to  the  emperor.  Agrippa  then  signified  to  the 
prisoner  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  speak  for  himself ;  and  the 
apostle,  after  his  manner,  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  spoke. 
He  began  by  expressing  his  satisfaction  at  having  to  vindicate 
himself  before  one  so  well  versed  as  Agrippa  in  "  all  customs 
and  questions  which  are  among  the  Jews."  He  then  pro- 
ceeded nearly  as  in  the  speech  from  the  stairs  at  Jerusalem. 
He  described  his  manner  of  bringing  up  in  the  strictness  of 


KING    AGRIPPA.  423 

Judaism  ;  he  dwelt  with  particularizing  emphasis  upon  his 
persecution  of  the  believers  in  Jesus ;  and  related  the  great 
incident  of  his  life, — the  vision  on  the  way  to  Damascus, 
which  resulted  in  his  conversion.  He  then  received  from 
Jesus  himself  a  commission  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles  the  great 
truths  of  which  he  had  been  convinced.  He  had  acted  in 
obedience  to  the  commission  thus  given,  from  that  day  to  this  ; 
and  he  had  by  this  alone  awakened  the  hostility  of  the  Jews, 
who  thirsted  for  his  blood,  although  he  had  taught  "none 
other  things  than  those  which  the  prophets  and  Moses  did  say 
should  come  :  That  Christ  should  suffer,  and  that  He  should 
be  the  first  that  should  rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  show 
light  unto  the  people  and  to  the  Gentiles."  All  this  seemed 
to  Festus  the  effect  of  an  excited  imagination,  increased,  per- 
haps, by  over-study  ;  for  it  is  likely  that  Paul  had  employed 
himself  much  in  his  confinement  upon  such  "books  and 
parchments,"  as  he  desired  to  solace  his  later  detention  at 
Rome,*  and  with  which  his  friends  could  easily  provide  him. 
He,  therefore,  broke  out,  in  a  loud  bantering  voice,  with — 
"  Paul,  thou  art  beside  thyself ;  much  learning  doth  make  thee 
mad."  The  apostle's  calmly-impressive  answer  was — "  I  am 
not  mad,  most  noble  Festus,  but  speak  forth  the  words  of 
truth  and  soberness."  His  mode  of  reasoning  had,  however, 
been  adapted  to  the  apprehension  not  of  Festus,  but  of  Agrippa 
— a  Jew,  believing  in  the  Scriptures,  and  not  without  some 
such  acquaintance  with  the  belief  of  the  Christians  as  could  be 
gained  from  his  outer  point  of  view.  On  him,  he  perceived 
that  he  had  made  some  impression ;  and  he,  therefore,  ap- 
pealed to  him,  and  to  his  consciousness  that  he  had  not  mis- 
represented the  teaching  of  the  prophets.  "  The  king  knoweth 
of  these  things,  before  whom  also  I  speak  freely ;  for  I  am 
persuaded  that  none  of  these  things  are  hidden  from  him ;  for 
this  thing  was'  not  done  in  a  corner."  "  King  Agrippa,"  he  said, 
with  startling  abruptness  of  personal  appeal,  "  Believest  thou 
the  prophets  ?"  and  he  answered  his  own  question — "  I  know 
that  thou  believest !"  This  was  virtually  an  appeal  to  Agrippa, 
*  2  Tim.  iv.  13. 


424  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

whether  the  views  he  had  set  forth  were  not  conformable  to 
what  the  prophets  taught.  The  king  was  moved  by  that 
appeal,  and  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  frankly  avowed 
— "Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  Christian."  On  which 
Paul,  lifting  up  his  chained  hands,  with  deep  emotion  and 
passionate  longing  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  exclaimed  :  "  I 
would  to  God  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all  that  hear  me 
this  day,  were  not  only  almost,  but  altogether  such  as  I  am 
— except  these  bonds !"  This  was  a  master-stroke  of  true 
eloquence,  that  the  finest  orators  of  Greece  or  Rome  never 
equalled.  The  effect  was  electrical.  Agrippa  started  from 
his  seat,  and  broke  up  the  court,  by  departing  with  the  gov- 
ernor and  Bernice,  as  if  afraid  that  he  should  commit  himself 
further  were  he  to  listen  any  longer. 

On  talking  together  afterwards,  Festus  and  Agrippa  agreed 
that  Paul  had  really  done  nothing  worthy  of  death,  or  even 
of  confinement ;  and  the  latter  added  that  he  might  have  been 
liberated  had  not  his  appeal  to  Caesar  rendered  it  necessary 
that  he  should  be  sent  to  Rome.  Had  Paul  then  made  a  mis- 
take in  lodging  that  appeal  ?  No  ;  for  this  destination  was 
not  only  in  accordance  with  his  own  purpose,  but,  as  he  knew, 
with  the  Lord's  will. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE   VOYAGE. ACTS    XXVII.    1-26. 

It  having  been  determined  to  send  Paul  to  Rome,  a  ship 
was  soon  found  in  which  he  and  other  prisoners  were  em- 
barked, under  the  charge  of  a  centurion  of  the  imperial  cohort, 
named  Julius,  whose  courteous  attention  to  the  apostle  on  all 
occasions  may  seem  to  intimate,  that  he  had  formed  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  prisoner  during  his  long  detention  in  the 
barracks  of  the  Prsetorium.  The  ship  was  of  Adramyttium, 
and  was  bound  for  its  own  port,  having  probably  touched  at 


THE    VOYAGE.  425 

Caesarea  on  a  return  voyage  from  Egypt.  A  fair  wind  wafted 
them  by  the  next  day  to  Sidon,  and  the  ship  ran  in  there, 
probably  to  discharge  or  to  take  in  some  portion  of  its  cargo. 
Understanding  that  Paul  had  friends  at  this  place,  the  cen- 
turion kindly  allowed  him  to  go  on  shore  to  "  refresh  himself" 
with  them.  He  was,  doubtless,  chained  by  the  wrist  to  one 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  sent  with  the  prisoners ;  but  in 
that  age  the  sight  of  persons  going  about  in  this  manner  was 
too  familiar  in  all  the  cities  of  the  Roman  empire,  to  excite 
much  attention.  • 

Loosing  from  Sidon,  the  vessel  was  forced  by  winds,  now 
become  somewhat  adverse,  to  pass  under  the  lee  of  Cyprus, 
which  is  determined  on  sufficient  grounds*  to  have  been  along 
the  north  side  of  the  island,  between  it  and  the  mainland,  but 
nearer  to  the  mainland  than  to  the  isle,  in  order  to  catch  the 
f-avoring  influence  of  the  land  breeze,  and  of  the  current  which 
constantly  runs  to  the  westward  along  the  south  coast  of  Asia 
Minor.  With  breeze  and  current  thus  favorable,  they  arrived 
without  any  recorded  incident  at  Myra  of  Lycia,  then  a  flour- 
ishing sea-port,  but  now  a  desolate  waste. 

To  have  proceeded  much  father  in  this  course  would  have 
been  out  of  the  way,  and  Julius  was,  therefore,  glad  to  find, 
as  he  had  expected  to  find,  at  Myra,  a  ship  bound  for  Rome, 
to  which  he  might  transfer  his  prisoners  and  the  soldiers  who 
guarded  them.  This  ship  was,  as  we  afterwards  learn,  laden 
with  corn,  and  bound  from  Alexandria  to  Rome,  of  which 
Egypt  was  one  of  the  granaries.  The  habit,  in  ancient  navi- 
gation, necessitated  by  the  want  of  the  compass,  of  sailing  as 
much  as  possible  within  sight  of  the  coast,  explains  the  seem- 
ingly strange  fact  of  our  finding  in  a  port  of  Asia  Minor  a 

*By  James  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Jordanhill,  to  whose  kindness  we  are 
indebted  for  the  designs  for  the  frontispiece  and  vignette  of  this  volume, 
and  from  whose  admirable  work  on  the  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St. 
Paul,  London,  1848,  the  contents  of  this  and  the  following  paper  are 
mainly  drawn  ;  this  work  having,  to  a  great  degree,  superseded  the 
results  of  the  writer's  personal  acquaintance  with  Malta  (acquired 
during  nearly  two  years'  residence  in  the  island),  and  with  so  much  of 
the  sea  track  of  this  voyage  as  lies  between  it  and  Crete. 


420  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

ship  bound  from  Egypt  to  Rome, — a  ship,  the  name  of  which 
(and  ancient  ships  had  names)  we  do  not  know,  but  which, 
even  without  a  name,  will  be  forever  memorable.  These 
ships  were  large, — equal,  in  fact,  to  the  largest  merchantmen 
of  modern  times, — and  we  need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  at 
the  number  of  persons  (276)  embarked,  as  we  afterwards  find, 
in  this  one,  and  in  another  of  the  same  sort,  which  eventually 
took  them  to  Italy  in  addition  to  her  own  crew. 

Their  progress  in  this  Alexandrian  ship,  after  leaving  Myra, 
Was  exceedingly  slow,  either  from  calms  or  contrary  winds, 
for  "many  days"  elapsed  before  they  came  "  over,  against 
Cnidus,"  at  the  entrance  of  the  ^Egean  Sea,  which  with  a 
fair* wind  might  be  accomplished  in  a  single  day.  Here  the 
advantage  of  the  land  breeze  and  the  current,  which  had  en- 
abled them  to  work  on  thus  far,  though  slowly,  altogether 
ceased,  and  they  were  exposed  at  once  to  the  full  force  of  the 
Etesian  wind.  Finding  it  impossible  to  make  head  against  it, 
their  only  course,  as  since  to  many  other  navigators  in  these 
seas,  was  to  abandon  their  direct  course  to  the  north  of  Crete, 
and,  steering  southward  to  it,  run  under  the  lee  of  that  island. 
After  working  up  along  its  southern  coast,  they  reached  Fair 
Havens,  which  is  the  farthest  point  that  an  ancient  ship  navi- 
gating under  the  lee  of  Crete  could  reach  with  north-west 
winds ;  for  beyond  Cape  Matala,  six  miles  further  on,  the 
coast  sweeps  round  to  the  north-west,  and  against  the  prevail- 
ing blasts  no  vessel  could  double  that  promontory.  They 
therefore  waited  in  the  anchorage  of  the  Fair  Havens  for  a 
change  of  wind,  but  none  occurred  until  the  advanced  state  of 
the  season  rendered  the  prospects  of  navigation  dangerous. 
The  time  is  denoted  by  the  fact  that  "  the  fast,"  or  great  day 
of  Expiation,  which  was  celebrated  about  the  time  of  the 
autumnal  equinox,  was  already  past.  All  hope  of  completing 
the  voyage  during  the  past  season  was  therefore  abandoned, 
and  the  other  question  was  whether  the  vessel  should  remain 
in  the  Fair  Havens,  or  that  the  danger  of  doubling  Cape 
Matala  should  be  risked,  in  order  to  reach  the  safe  harbor  of 
Phenice,  which  lay  about  forty  miles  to  the  west.     A  con- 


THE    VOYAGE.  427 

sultation  was  held  on  this  point,  at  which  Paul  assisted,  and 
strongly  urged  that  they  should  winter  in  the  Fair  Havens, 
predicting  great  danger  in  the  attempt  contemplated :  "  Sirs, 
I  perceive  this  voyage  will  be  with  hurt  and  much  damage, 
not  only  of  the  lading  and  ship,  but  also  of  our  lives."  The 
officers  of  the  ship  were,  however,  of  a  different  opinion  ;  and 
the  centurion,  having  a  serious  responsibility  upon  him,  natur- 
ally preferred  the  judgment  of  the  experienced  seamen  to  that 
of  the  apostle,  notwithstanding  his  general  respect  for  him. 

It  was  still,  however,  needful  to  wait  for  a  change  in  the 
wind.  This  long-desired  event  at  length  occurred.  A  gentle 
breeze  from  the  south  having  sprung  up,  they  immediately 
took  advantage  of  it  to  weigh  anchor,  and  set  sail  with  every 
prospect  of  being  enabled  to  reach  Phenice  in  a  few  hours. 
Having  doubled  the  Cape,  their  course  lay  across  the  great 
southern  bight  to  the  west  thereof.  They  had  not  proceeded 
far,  however,  when  a  sudden  change  in  the  weather  took 
place.  The  ship  was  caught  in  a  typhoon  from  the  north- 
east (not  unusual  at  that  season,  and  called  Euroclydon),  which 
blew  with  such  violence  that  they  could  not  face  it,  but  were 
forced,  in  the  first  instance,  to  scud  before  it  to  the  south-west 
for  twenty-three  miles,  when  they  neared  the  little  island  of 
Clauda  (now  called  Gozzo),  and  rounding  its  eastern  end,  ran 
under  the  lee  of  the  shore.  Here  they  busied  themselves  in 
preparing  the  vessel  to  resist  the  fury  of  the  storm.  They 
now  got  in  the  boat,  which  they  had  not  done  at  first,  because 
the  weather  had  been  moderate,  and  the  distance  they  had  to 
sail  was  short.  This  was  a  work  of  no  small  labor,  as  it  had 
been  completely  swamped  in  being  dragged  so  far  though  a 
tempestuous  sea.  They  then  "  undergirded  the  ship,"  by 
passing  a  strong  cable  several  times  round  her  hull  to  keep 
her  timbers  together,  which  must  have  been  greatly  strained 
by  the  leverage  of  a  single  mast,  with  a  ponderous  yard  at 
the  upper  end.  Their  next  care  was  to  make  the  ship  "  snug," 
by  lowering  the  sail,  and  bringing  down  upon  deck  her  spars 
a    1  rigging. 

(t  next  became  a  serious  question  in  what  course  they  should 


428  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

endeavor  to  keep  the  vessel.  They  could  not  scud  before  the 
wind,  not  only  from  the  danger  of  a  heavy  sea  beating  upon 
it  and  rendering  steering  difficult,  but  because  twenty-four 
hon is'  drift,  in  the  direction  of  the  storm,  would  have  borne 
them  to  certain  destruction  upon  the  great  Syrtis  or  sand  bank  of 
the  African  coast.  They  must  therefore  have  "  hove  to."  They 
could  not  have  hove  to  on  the  port  tack, — that  is,  with  the 
left  side  of  the  vessel  to  the  wind  (which  blew  from  the  east 
north-east),  for  then  it  must  have  drifted  upon  the  coast  of 
Libya,  which  lay  at  no  great  distance,  and  would,  moreover, 
have  been  driven  quite  out  of  her  course.  The  only  remain- 
ing alternative  was  to  heave  to  on  the  starboard  tack,  or  to 
the  right  in  a  north-westerly  direction.  Thus,  with  the  boat 
secured,  the  ship  undergirded  and  made  snug,  and  with  storm- 
sails  set  to  keep  the  vessel  steady,  they  proceeded,  steering  as 
close  to  the  wind  as  the  gale  would  permit.  On  the  following 
day,  the  gale  continuing  unabated,  they  threw  overboard  the 
heaviest  and  least  valuable  part  of  the  cargo.  "  Every  step 
hitherto  taken,"  says  Mr.  Smith,  "  indicates  skilful  seamanship. 
In  an  old  French  work  on  maritime  law,  I  find  every  one  of 
these  precautions  pointed  out  as  proper  to  be  taken  by  able 
mariners  under  similar  circumstances." 

On  the  third  day  they  threw  overboard  the  tackling  of  the 
ship.  Luke  says,  "  We  cast  it  out  with  our  own  hands."  It 
is  probable  that  the  mainyard  is  denoted  or  included,  this 
being  an  immense  spar,  possibly  as  long  as  the  ship,  and 
which  would  require  the  united  strength  of  passengers  and 
crew  to  launch  overboard.  The  relief  would  be  equivalent  to 
that  Avhich  a  modern  ship  receives  from  the  throwing  over- 
board of  its  guns. 

A  dismal  interval  of  several  days  now  ensued,  during  which 
the  storm  continued  with  unabated  violence,  so  that  at  length 
the  poor  vovagers  lost  all  hope  of  being  saved.  The  leakage 
could  not  be  kept  down,  and  it  became  clear  that  the  vessel 
must  founder  at  sea  unless  the  land  were  soon  made.  But  as 
ancient  ships  had  no  compass,  and  as  the  clouded  sky  had  for 
many  days  prevented  any  observation  of  the  sun  or  stars,  the 


THE    SHIPWRECK.  429 

reckoning  was  lost,  and  the  mariners  knew  not  where  they 
were,  nor  in  what  direction  to  steer  for  the  nearest  land.  It 
was  for  this  reason  that  they  lost  hope,  for,  apart  from  this, 
the  mere  continuance  of  the  storm  might  have  been  as  likely 
to  drive  them  into  safety  as  into  danger.  All  on  board  had 
hitherto  borne  up  their  spirits  nobly,  and  their  present  despair 
must  in  part  have  been  the  result  of  the  continued  labor  and 
want  of  rest  inevitable  under  such  circumstances,  as  well  as 
of  the  abstinence  constrained  by  the  loss  or  spoiling  of  pro- 
visions, and  by  the  impossibility  of  dressing  any  food. 

Then  it  was,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  voyage,  that  Paul, 
the  prisoner,  stood  forth  with  words  of  encouragement  and 
hope.  He  gently  reminded  them  that  all  this  harm  and  loss 
had  ensued  from  their  previous  neglect  of  his  advice.  But 
now  he  assured  them  that  not  one  of  their  lives  should  be 
lost,  though  the  vessel  in  which  they  were  could  not  be  saved. 
The  ground  of  his  assurance  was  that  the  angel  of  the  God 
he  served  had  appeared  to  him  that  night,  and  had  told  him 
that  he  was  yet  to  appear  before  Caesar,  and  that  God  had  given 
to  him  the  lives  of  all  who  sailed  with  him.  "  Howbeit,"  he 
added,  "  we  must  be  cast  upon  a  certain  island ;"  but  the  pros- 
pect of  this  was  a  gladness  to  those  who  were  out  at  sea, 
storm-driven,  in  a  sinking  ship. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK.— THURSDAY. 

THE  SHIPWRECK. ACTS  XXVII.  27 XXVIII.  10. 

Persons  upon  a  tempestuous  sea,  in  a  vessel  slowly  sinking 
under  them,  are  not  wont  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  voice  that 
gives  assurance  of  hope.  The  voice  that  was  disregarded  in 
the  calm  safety  of  the  Fair  Havens,  is  heeded  well  amid  the 
dreads  of  the  stormy  and  dark  day.  The  former  utterance 
of  that  voice  is  now  recalled  with  distinctness  ;  and  its  exact 
fulfilment  causes  Paul  to  be  looked  to  as  a  prophet  whose 


430  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK THURSDAY. 

words  fall  not  to  the  ground.  The  influence  of  the  confidence 
in  him  thus  established  may  be  traced  in  all  that  follows,  and 
from  this  time  the  apostle  becomes  the  virtual  commander  of 
the  ship.  The  promise  of  land  caused  the  mariners  to  keep  a 
sharp  look-out  ahead  ;  and  on  the  midnight  of  the  fourteenth 
day  from  their  departure  from  Fair  Havens,  their  practised 
senses  discovered  through  the  gloom  the  sound  or  the  white 
surge  of  breakers,  which  apprized  them  that  land  was  near. 
Awful  at  sea  as  is  the  cry  of  "  Breakers  ahead !"  it  afforded  in 
this  desperate  case  a  chance  at  least  of  safety.  They  can  now 
adopt  the  last  resource  for  a  sinking  ship,  and  run  her  ashore ; 
but  to  do  this  before  daylight,  upon  an  unknown  shore,  and 
in  a  dark  and  boisterous  night,  would  have  been  certain  de- 
struction. They  must  bring  the  ship  to  anchor,  and  hold  on, 
if  possible,  until  the  morning,  when  they  may  perhaps  discover 
some  creek  with  a  beach,  into  which  they  may  be  able  to 
"  thrust  the  ship."  The  breakers  soon  became  distinctly  vis- 
ible ;  and  as  the  soundings  showed  that  the  vessel  was  rapidly 
nearing  the  shore,  no  time  was  lost  in  casting  out  four  anchors 
at  the  stern.  Ancient  vessels  were  usually  supplied  with  sev- 
eral anchors,  as  they  had  none  singly  of  so  great  weight  as 
those  we  use  in  large  vessels.  They  ordinarily  anchored  by 
the  bow,  as  we  do ;  but  anchoring  at  the  stern  was  best  for 
this  emergency.  The  ship's  course  would  be  more  easily  ar- 
rested, and  she  would  be  in  a  better  position  for  being  run 
ashore  in  the  morning.  The  anchors  held  fast ;  and  the  storm- 
sail  having  been  lowered,  and  the  two  heavy  paddles  by  which 
(one  at  each  side)  the  ancients  steered  their  vessels,  being 
lifted  up  out  of  the  water  and  made  fast,  nothing  remained 
but  to  wait  patiently  for  day.  These  were,  however,  anxious 
hours.  The  vessel  might  founder  before  dawn,  the  cables 
might  part,  and  it  was  by  no  means  certain  that  the  morning 
light  would  show  any  beach  where  they  could  land  with  safety. 
Aware  of  these  perils,  the  sailors  determined  to  take  to  the 
boat;  and  they  lowered  it  under  the  pretence  of  laying  out 
anchors  from  the  bow,  and  thereby  of  steadying  the  ship, 
which  was  pitching  violently  in  the  sea.     Had  this  dastardly 


THE    SHIPWRECK.  431 

attempt  been  successful,  the  peril  to  the  laudsmen  left  on  board 
would  have  been  great ;  for  how  were  they  to  work  so  large 
a  vessel  when  the  morning  light  appeared  ?  Their  design  was, 
however,  penetrated  by  Paul,  on  whose  declaration  to  the  cen- 
turion and  the  guard  of  soldiers,  "Except  these  abide  in  the 
ship,  ye  cannot  be  saved,"  they  at  once  cut  the  hawser,  by 
which  the  boat  was  being  lowered  over  the  side  of  the  ship, 
and  let  it  drop  into  the  sea.  Considering  that  this  boat  might, 
under  conceivable  circumstances,  become  the  only  means  of 
escape  from  a  sinking  vessel,  the  sacrifice  of  it  is  a  remarkable 
instance  of  the  wonderful  ascendency  which  the  apostle  had 
by  this  time  acquired  over  the  minds  of  his  companions  on 
board. 

It  now  wanted  but  little  to  day-break,  when  every  one  would 
be  called  on  for  the  best  exercise  of  his  mental  and  physical 
powers.  Therefore  Paul,  who  alone  seems  to  have  remained 
in  a  calmly  collected  state  of  mind,  pressed  upon  them  the 
importance  of  recruiting  their  exhausted  frames  by  some  food, 
solacing  his  advice  by  the  assurance  that  not  a  hair  should 
fall  from  the  head  of  any  one  of  them.  He  then  set  the  ex 
ample  himself;  and,  having  given  thanks  to  God,  took  a  piece 
of  bread,  and  breaking  it  before  them  began  to  eat.  Encour- 
aged by  his  example  and  his  words,  all  of  them  partook  to- 
gether of  the  only  approach  to  a  full  and  regular  meal  they 
had  enjoyed  since  the  commencement  of  the  gale.  Thus 
strengthened,  a  final  effort  was  made  to  lighten  the  ship,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  run  her  more  easily  on  shore ;  and  as  the  wheat 
with  which  she  was  laden  could  be  of  no  further  use,  they  cast 
as  much  of  it  as  they  could  into  the  sea. 

The  earnestly-desired  day  at  length  dawned,  and  revealed 
to  them  a  coast,  of  which  none  of  them  had  any  knowledge. 
But  they  perceived  before  them  a  bay,  within  which  was  a 
creek,  with  a  practicable  beach,  which  they  judged  suited  to 
the  object  they  had  in  view  of  running  the  vessel  ashore. 
They,  therefore,  cut  their  cables,  leaving  the  anchors  in  the 
sea ;  and  having  hoisted  their  fore-sail,  and  loosing  the  lash- 
ings of  their  rudders  to  let  them  drop  in  the  sea,  they  steered 


432  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — THURSDAY. 

for  the  creek.  But  a  little  in  advance  of  the  beach  was  a 
bank  or  bottom  of  tenacious  clay  (produce^  by  the  disintegra- 
tion of  a  peculiar  rock),  and  on  this  the  fore  part  of  the  vessel 
stuck  fast,  while,  from  having  fallen  into  a  place  "  where  two 
seas  met,"  the  hind  part  began  to  break  up  under  the  action 
of  the  waves.  It  was  clear  that  the  vessel  must  go  to  pieces 
in  a  few  minutes.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  soldiers  in 
charge  of  the  prisoners,  were  afraid  that  some  of  them  might 
swim  off  and  escape,  to  prevent  which  they,  with  true  Roman 
disregard  of  human  life  or  suffering,  purposed  to  put  them  all 
to  death.  But  the  centurion,  determined  to  save  Paul,  op- 
posed the  motion  sternly  for  his  sake,  taking  all  the  responsi- 
bility upon  himself.  He,  at  the  same  time,  ordered  such  as 
could  swim  to  cast  themselves  first  into  the  sea.  They  did  so, 
and  reached  the  shore ;  and  as  the  ship  went  to  pieces,  the  rest, 
some  on  boards,  and  others  on  broken  pieces  of  the  ship, 
made  their  way  through  the  surf,  and  all  escaped  safely  to  land. 

They  soon  learned  from  the  people  that  they  had  been  cast 
on  the  island  of  Melita.  This  has  been  usually  identified  with 
Malta ;  and  this  identification,  which  we  have  never  doubted, 
seems  to  us  to  have  been  conclusively  established  beyond  all 
further  question  by  Mr.  Smith,  in  the  valuable  work  which  we 
have  named.  He  has  also  sustained  the  local  tradition  which 
points  to  the  western  coast  of  St.  Paul's  Bay,  as  the  immedi- 
ate scene  of  the  transaction.  All  the  local  incidents  of  the 
coast,  and  the  creek,  and  the  two  seas  meeting,  and  the  break- 
ers,— not  to  mention  the  distance  and  course  of  the  drifting 
voyage,  agree  entirely  with  the  narrative  of  Luke,  and  cast 
light  upon  it.  We  have,  therefore,  in  digesting  the  narrative 
after  Mr.  Smith,  with  collateral  aids,  expressed  these  as  estab- 
lished facts,  without  going  into  the  evidence,  having  many  years 
ago,  in  reading  the  27th  chapter  of  Acts  upon  the  spot,  received 
this  conviction,  although  the  subject  was  one  on  which  some 
doubts  had  been  previously  entertained. 

We  observed  also  that  the  bay,  with  the  sea  beyond,  is,  to 
the  naked  eye,  visible  from  Citta  Vecchia,  which,  at  the  distance 
ot  rive  miles  inland,  represents  what  was  the  metropolis  of  the 


THE    SHIPWRECK.  433 

island  at  the  time  of  the  wreck.  It  is  likely,  therefore,  that 
many  of  the  citizens  hurried  down  to  the  shore  when  they  ob- 
served a  large  vessel  entering  the  bay  under  the  circumstances 
described,  which  clearly  indicated  that  she  was  in  great  dis- 
tress. Certain  it  is  that  the  people  of  the  island  received  them 
with  much  kindness,  and  hastened  to  afford  all  possible  relief 
to  their  wants.  Relief  was  much  needed ;  for  the  weather 
was  cold,  the  rain  fell  heavily,  and  the  clothing  of  such  as  had 
any  was  drenched  by  sea  water.  A  large  fire  soon  blazed  in 
a  sheltered  nook,  and  comforted  them  until  the  governor  of  the 
island,  named  Publius,  who  had  a  marine  villa  near  the  place 
of  the  wreck,  could  arrange  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
shipwrecked  strangers.  Paul,  always  helpful  to  any  useful  la- 
bor that  might  be  in  hand,  employed  himself  in  gathering  a 
bundle  of  sticks ;  but  when  he  had  cast  it  upon  the  fire,  a  vi- 
per came  forth,  and  fastened  upon  his  hand.  At  this  extraor- 
dinary incident,  the  islanders  concluded  in  their  minds,  that 
this  was  some  murderer  whom,  though  he  had  escaped  the 
danger  of  the  sea,  divine  justice  suffered  not  to  live.  Paul, 
however,  quietly  shook  the  venomous  creature  off;  and  when 
after  observing  him  narrowly  a  long  while  for  the  usual  symp- 
toms of  this  mortal  bite,  his  body  did  not  swell,  nor  did  he 
fall  down  suddenly  dead,  they  changed  their  minds,  and  look- 
ed upon  him  as  a  descended  god. 

The  island  was  inhabited  by  people  mostly  of  Phoenician 
origin  ;  hence  Luke  designates  them  as  "  barbarians,"  a  term 
then  applied  to  all  who  were  not  of  Greek  or  Roman  descent, 
however  civilized.  It  was  at  this  time  a  dependency  of  Rome, 
and  attached  to  the  government  of  Sicily.  It  had,  however, 
a  local  governor,  in  the  person  of  Publius,  bearing  the  title,  as 
attested  by  subsisting  inscriptions,  of  (iirotos)  primate,  or  first, 
or  chief,  which  Luke  assigns  to  him.  This  title  must  have 
been  official,  and  not  derived  from  his  rank  or  wealth  in  the 
island,  for  his  father  was  living.  But  he  lay  ill  of  fever  and 
dysentery,  and  by  healing  him  miraculously,  Paul  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  recompensing  the  hospitable  attentions  of  Publius, 
who  for  three  days  supplied  the  wants  of  the  party,  and  seems 

VOL.    IV.  19 


434  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK FRIDAY. 

to  have  received  some  of  them  (including  Paul  and  his  friends) 
into  his  own  house.  After  this  they  went  to  the  town,  and  lo- 
cal tradition,  not  unlikely,  ascribes  to  him  a  residence  in  a 
grotto  hewn  in  the  soft  rock  under  that  city,  in  which  we  have 
seen  a  fine  statue  of  him,  and  an  altar  dedicated  to  him.  The 
fame  of  the  miraculous  cure  having  spread  abroad,  others  who 
were  afflicted  with  diseases  repaired  to  the  apostle,  and  were 
healed — the  Lord  thus  enabling  him,  without  silver  or  gold, 
to  repay  the  abundant  kindness  these  good  islanders  had  shown 
to  the  shipwrecked  strangers.  They  considered  this  as  a  new 
debt  of  gratitude,  which  they  repaid  by  rendering  to  Paul 
and  his  party  every  possible  honor  ;  and  when  they  embarked 
again,  loaded  them  with  everything  they  could  be  likely  to 
want,  or  that  might  be  agreeable  to  them,  among  which,  if 
we  may  judge  from  our  own  experience,  oranges  would  not  at 
that  time  of  the  year  be  forgotten. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

MELITA  TO  ROME. ACTS  XXVIII.   11-31. 

Three  weeks  spent  in  Melita  brought  round  the  time  when 
the  ancients  considered  the  navigation  of  the  seas  practicable, 
and  Julius  secured  for  his  soldiers  and  prisoners  a  passage  to 
Italy  in  another  corn-ship  of  Alexandria,  which  had  win- 
tered in  the  island,  and  which  was  called  the  Castor  and  Pol- 
lux, twin  demigods,  who  were  regarded  as  the  special  patrons 
of  sailors.  With  a  fair  wind,  Syracuse,  in  Sicily,  was  but  a 
day's  sail  from  Melita ;  and  on  reaching  that  famous  port  and 
emporium,  a  stay  of  three  days  was  made,  probably  for  the 
purposes  of  trade.  Whether  or  not  Paul  went  ashore  here, 
we  cannot  tell.  Doubtless  the  courteous  centurion  would  have 
allowed  him  to  do  so,  had  this  been  his  wish ;  but  after  three 
months  on  land  people  do  not  care  much  for  going  ashore 
after  merely  a  dav's  vovage,  unless  thev  have  friends  in  the 


MELITA    TO    ROME.  435 

place  to  which  they  come,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  apostle 
had  any  at  Syracuse. 

From  this  port  they  proceeded  by  an  indirect  course,  the 
weather  not  being  at  first  favorable,  to  Rhegium,  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  Straits  of  Messina,  and  put  into  the  harbor  there, 
the  wind  not  allowing  them  to  pass  through  the  straits.  But 
after  one  day  it  became  fair,  they  set  sail,  and  the  next  day 
reached  Puteoli,  in  the  Bay  of  Naples.  The  harbor  of  Pute- 
oli  was  then  as  it  is  now,  the  most  sheltered  port  of  the  Bay 
of  Naples.  It  was  the  principal  port  of  the  south  of  Italy, 
and,  in  particular,  it  was  the  great  emporium  for  the  Alexan- 
drian cornships.  The  advance  of  such  ships,  as  distinguished 
from  others,  was  always  known  as  soon  as  they  hove  in  sight, 
from  the  fact  that  they  alone  were  allowed  to  enter  the  bay 
with  their  topsail  set ;  and  by  the  time  the  vessel  reached  the 
pier,  it  was  always  sure  to  be  crowded  with  observers  and 
idlers,  to  witness  the  debarkation  of  passengers.  It  was 
through  such  a  crowd,  and  under  the  escort  of  the  soldiers, 
that  the  centurion  conducted  the  apostle  and  his  fellow- 
prisoners.  As  they  were  to  remain  a  week  in  this  place, 
probably  to  await  orders  from  Rome,  Julius  allowed  Paul  to 
spend  the  time  among  the  Christian  brethren  he  found  there. 

At  the  end  of  that  time  the  party  commenced  the  march  to 
Rome,  distant  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  And  when  they 
had  proceeded  thirty -one  miles,  they  found  themselves  upon 
the  famous  Appian  Way,  the  track  of  which  still  remains. 
The  foundation  of  this  road,  which  was  thirteen  or  fourteen 
feet  broad,  was  of  concrete  or  cemented  rubble  work,  and  the 
surface  was  laid  with  large  polygonal  blocks  of  the  hardest 
stone,  and  so  nicely  fitted  to  each  other  that  the  whole  seemed 
the  work  rather  of  nature  than  of  art.  The  distances  were 
marked  by  mile -stones  ;  and  at  intervals  of  twenty  miles  were 
mansions  or  post-stations,  where  vehicles,  horses,  and  mules 
were  provided  for  the  convenience  of  travellers,  and  the  trans- 
mission of  government  despatches. 

It  was  usual  among  the  Romans,  as  it  still  is  in  the  East, 
for  persons  apprized  of  the  approach  of  friends,  or  of  those 


436  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK FRIDAY. 

they  delight  to  honor,  to  go  forth  to  meet  them  on  the  road 
they  must  travel,  the  honor  being  proportioned  to  the  distance. 
The  Christians  at  Rome  were  numerous,  and  many  of  them 
persons  of  consideration.  They  had  heard  from  Puteoli  of 
Paul's  expected  approach ;  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  Appii 
Forum,  he  found  a  large  party  of  them  who  had  come  to  the 
unusual  distance  of  fifty '-one  miles,  to  honor  the  great  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  to  testify  the  sense  they  entertained  of  his 
great  services  and  sufferings  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  When 
Paul  saw  them,  he  "  thanked  God,  and  took  courage."  He 
was  deeply  moved  by  such  affectionate  zeal,  and  was  en- 
couraged by  finding  that  the  Roman  brethren  were  not 
ashamed  of  his  chain,  but  were  rather  stimulated  thus  publicly 
to  avow  their  fellowship  with  him  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel. 
From  Appii  Forum  the  company  of  Roman  Christians  pro- 
ceeded with  Paul's  party  eighteen  miles,  to  the  Three  Taverns, 
a  well-known  stage  upon  this  road.  Here  another  large  party 
of  Christian  brethren  was  found,  composed  probably  of  persons 
of  maturer  age,  or  whose  departing  from  Rome  had  been  too 
late  for  further  progress.  The  united  parties  must  have  ren- 
dered the  attendance  from  this  point  very  considerable  ;  and 
the  approach  of  Paul  to  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  was  more 
like  a  triumphal  procession  than  the  forced  march  of  a 
prisoner. 

On  arriving  at  Rome,  the  centurion  completed  the  respon- 
sible task  he  had  so  ably  and  discreetly  performed,  by  resign- 
ing the  charge  of  the  prisoners  into  the  hands  of  the  praetorian 
prefect,  a  high  office  which  was  at  this  time  held  by  Burrhus, 
one  of  the  most  influential  as  well  as  most  sagacious  of  Nero's 
advisers.  It  was  in  all  probability  the  favorable  mention  of 
Paul  made  to  him  by  Julius,  together  with  the  tone  of  the 
letter  which  he  brought  from  Festus  to  the  emperor,  that  pro- 
cured for  him  very  considerate  treatment,  and  as  much  free- 
dom as  consisted  with  his  safe  detention.  Instead  of  being 
detained  in  the  barracks  of  the  praetorium,  he  was  allowed  to 
take  up  his  abode  in  a  hired  house,  which,  we  must  suppose, 
was  near  enough  to  facilitate  the  military  inspection  under 


MELITA    TO    ROME.  43 1 

which  he  lived,  and  for  the  convenience  of  "  the  soldier  that 
kept  him,"  and  to  whom  he  was  chained  when  he  went  abroad, 
if  not  within  doors.*  Much  of  a  prisoner's  comfort  depended 
upon  the  character  of  the  men  with 
whom  he  was  brought  into  such  close 
connection ;  and  therefore  pains  were 
taken,  and  influence  used,  to  obtain 
select  and  well-behaved  soldiers  for  this 
office.  Thus,  when  Herod-Agrippa  was 
in  like  custody  at  Rome,  the  empress 
Antonia  influenced  Marco,  the  then 
praetorian  prefect,  to  see  that  the  cen- 
turion who  had  charge  of  the  prisoner, 
and  the  soldiers  who  interchangeably 
kept  him,  should  be  men  of  mild  and, 
easy  nature,  and  that  he  might  have 
leave  to  bathe  himself  daily,  and  that  his  friends  and  servants 
should  have  free  access  to  him.  There  seems  every  indication 
that,  through  the  spontaneous  kindness  of  Burrhus,  or  the  in- 
fluence of  Paul's  friends  with  him,  similar  means  were  taken 
to  make  his  confinement  easy. 

Paul  had  been  only  three  days  at  Rome  when  he  began  to 
bestir  himself  in  the  cause  he  had  most  at  heart.  He  sent 
first  for  the  leading  men  among  the  Jews,  who  were  very 
numerous  at  Rome,  and  sought  to  remove  any  impression  to 
his  disadvantage,  that  they  might  have  derived  from  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  imperial  city  as  a  prisoner  from  Judea.  They 
assured  him,  in  reply,  that  they  had  not  yet  received  from 
Judea  any  information  to  his  disadvantage.  They  only  knew 
generally  that  he  was  a  leading  man  of  the  Nazarenes,  who 
were  "  everywhere  spoken  against,"  but  they  were  very  willing 
to  hear  him  on  that  subject.  There  was  something  promising 
in  this ;  but  when,  on  the  day  appointed,  they  came  to  his 
lodging  to  hear  him  further,  the  great  truths  of  the  Christian 
doctrine,  which  he  set  forth  with  much  fulness,  were  not  found 

*  This  cut,  from  the  arch  of  Severus,  shows  a  Roman  soldier  about 
to  fasten  to  his  own  arm  the  chain  by  which  a  prisoner  is  bound. 


438  FIFTV-SECOSD    WEEK FRIDAY. 

palateable  to  more  than  a  few  of  their  number.  Observing 
their  disagreement  with  him,  and  their  distaste  to  his  teaching, 
he  sent  them  away  with  a  rebuke  for  the  hardness  of  their 
hearts,  and  with  the  intimation  :  "  Be  it  known  therefore  unto 
you,  that  the  salvation  of  God  is  sent  to  the  Gentiles." 
Accordingly,  Paul  remained  for  two  years  in  his  hired  house, 
preaching  the  Gospel  with  eminent  success  to  all  who  came  to 
hear  him.  Nor  was  this  all  his  labor,  for  to  this  period  we 
are  to  ascribe  his  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  epistles  to  the 
Philippians  and  the  Colossians,  the  epistle  to  Philemon,  and 
perhaps  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  of  which  he  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  the  writer.  To  these  we  must  add  the 
second  epistle  to  Timothy,  if  there  was  but  one  imprisonment 
at  Rome.  Here  also  was  written,  at  the  close  of  this  period, 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  by  Luke ;  for  he  brings  his  history 
no  further  than  this,  leaving  Paul  still  a  prisoner,  after  two 
years'  captivity  at  Rome.  The  Gospel  of  the  same  evangelist 
had  been  previously  written,  probably  at  an  earlier  date  in 
this  captivity,  for  he  makes  a  distinct  allusion  to  it  in  his  in- 
troduction to  the  Acts. 

The  subsequent  history  of  Paul,  after  Luke  closes  the  record, 
which  we  have  hitherto  followed  with  so  much  interest,  is  in- 
volved in  great  uncertainty  and  doubt.  Whether  he  was 
liberated  from  this  confinement,  or  that  it  ended  in  his  martyr- 
dom ;  if  liberated,  by  what  means  it  was  accomplished  ;  the 
course,  extent,  and  duration  of  his  subsequent  travels ;  and 
even  the  time  and  manner  of  his  death, — are  points  of  which 
nothing  can  be  very  positively  affirmed.  The  somewhat 
muddy  current  of  tradition  is,  however,  in  favor  of  his  libera- 
tion from  this  imprisonment;  after  which  he  revisited  the 
churches  he  had  established,  and  executed  the  intention  he 
had  formerly  announced  of  journeying  through  the  western 
parts  of  the  Roman  empire,  even  unto  Spain,*  and,  as  some 
have  fancied,  even  to  the  British  isles.  He  then  returned  to 
Rome,  whether  freely  or  as  a  prisoner  even  tradition  leaves 
doubtful.  There  he  became  involved  in  the  results  of  the  per- 
*  Rom.  xv  24,  28. 


MELITA    TO    ROME.  439 

secution  which  was  raised  against  the  Christians  on  account 
of  the  burning  of  Rome,  falsely  ascribed  to  them,  and  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  fullest  measure  of  Roman  cruelty  was 
expended  upon  them.  The  apostle  was  kept  for  some  time  in 
confinement ;  and  it  is  alleged  that  in  this  second  imprison- 
ment, he  was  not  allowed  the  comparatively  easy  custody  of 
"  the  soldier  that  kept  him,"  but  was  committed  to  prison. 
The  Mamertine  prison,  which  still  exists,  is  indeed  particularly 
indicated  as  that  in  which  he  was  detained ;  and  we  are  in- 
clined to  attach  some  credit  to  this  indication,  from  finding  it 
frequently  mentioned  in  old  martyrologies  as  the  place  in 
which  many  of  the  early  martyrs  were  confined,  as  well  as 
from  our  knowledge  that  it  was  adapted  to  and  used  for  such 
purposes  in  Nero's  time.  The  Mamertine  prisons  date  from 
the  earliest  times  of  Rome.  They  consist  of  two  extensive 
apartments,  built  with  large  uncemented  stones,  and  lying  one 
over  the  other.  The  upper  one  has  no  entrance  but  through 
a  hole  in  the  top,  and  there  is  access  to  the  lower  chamber 
only  through  an  aperture  in  the  floor  of  the  upper  one.  The 
lower  dungeon,  called  the  Tullianum  (from  the  king  Servius 
Tullius,  to  whom  it  was  ascribed),  is  that  in  which  Paul  is 
supposed  to  have  been  confined.  A  more  horrible  place  for 
the  detention  of  a  human  being  could  not  well  be  conceived ; 
and  Sallust,  who  described  it  when  still  in  use,  says  that  from 
darkness,  uncleanness,  and  foul  air,  it  was  altogether  a  loath- 


some  and  frightful  place.     From  this  dungeon  we  are  told 
that  Paul  was  dragged  to  Aquae  Salvia,  the  Tyburn  of  Rome, 


440  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK SATURDAY. 

situated  about  two  miles  beyond  the  present  limits  of  the  city, 
and  there  bowed  to  the  stroke  which  laid  his  venerable  head 
in  the  dust. 


FIFTY-SECOND  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE    CATACOMBS. HEB.  XI.  38. 

Although  we  possess  no  very  satisfactory  information  re- 
specting St.  Paul's  career  subsequent  to  the  close  of  the  "  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,"  we  are  not  in  want  of  information  of  peculiar 
interest  respecting  the  early  condition  of  that  church, — the 
church  in  the  imperial  city,  — which,  as  its  importance  de- 
manded, occupied  a  large  place  in  his  thoughts  and  his  prayers, 
and  which  long  continued  to  bear  the  impress  of  his  labors. 
The  cursory  reader  of  Scripture  may  be  apt  to  underrate  the 
extent  of  those  labors,  seeing  that  the  record  of  them  is  em- 
braced in  a  few  verses  at  the  close  of  the  last  historical  book 
of  Scripture.  But  a  man  like  Paul  could  not  labor  for  up- 
wards of  two  years  in  a  city  like  Rome,  without  leaving  there, 
upon  a  soil  already  broken  up  to  his  hands,  the  most  manifest 
signs  of  his  culture.  Then,  there  is  the  probability  of  a  second 
visit  of  some  duration,  in  which  for  more  effectually  than  by 
oral  teaching,  he  with  his  blood  matured  the  "  Lord's  hus- 
bandry" in  that  place.  And  besides  this,  there  is  that  great 
epistle  which  he  wrote  to  the  Christians  in  that  city  before 
they  had  seen  his  face,  and  which  was  well  calculated,  with 
the  Spirit's  blessing,  to  build  up  the  church  to  which  it  was 
addressed,  as  it  has  since  built  up  other  churches, — strong  in 
doctrine  and  in  faitb.  Verily,  it  was  not  milk  for  babes  that 
he  gave  to  them  ;  but  strong  nourishing  food,  that  they  might 
grow  thereby.     And  they  did  grow. 

Dop  beneath  the  soil  of  Rome,  and  winding  off  into  laby- 
rinths of  unknown  extent,  excavations  were  made  before  the 
time  of  the  birth  of  Christ  for  a  species  of  earth  or  sand,  now 
called  2)ozzonala,  from  which  was  made   the  durable   cement 


THE    CATACOMBS. 


441 


used  by  the  Romans.  As  the  material  ran  in  narrow  veins, 
rising,  dipping,  and  bending  irregularly,  it  was  worked  out  in 
galleries  of  only  sufficient  size  for  the  operation  of  procuring 
it,  and  when  exhausted  in  one  place,  the  excavation  was  left 
to  neglect,  and  was  forgotten.  These  galleries  are  about  six 
feet  in  height,  and  three  in  width.  They  hnve  been  traced 
for  many  miles,  and  there  are  several  entrances  to  them. 
As  they  are  not  lighted  by  any  holes  or  openings,  and  are 
very  devious  and  confused  in  their  windings,  many  persons 
have  perished  in  them,  so  that  most  of  the  entrances  have  been 
closed.*     The  principal  access  to  them  now  is  beneath  the 


Church  of  St.  Sebastian,  outside  the  walls.  At  intervals  are 
larger  spaces,  chambers  originally  made  by  the  workmen  for 
their  own  convenience ;  but  which  afterwads  served  for  chapels 
to  the  early  Roman  Christians,  and  for  dwellings  when  perse- 

*  This  is  the  case  also  in  the  catacombs  at  Malta.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  extend  as  far  as  St.  Paul's  Bay,  and  to  the  sea.  Many  accidents 
bad  occurred  in  them  ;  but  the  one  which  led  to  the  passages  being  built 
up  at  certain  distances  from  the  entrance,  was  the  loss  in  them  of  a 
school-master  and  his  pupils,  who  went  too  far  into  these  passages, 
and  were  never  found  or  heard  of  more. 


442  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK SATURDAY. 

cutipn  compelled  them  to  worship  in  these  retreats,  or  to  seek 
in  them  refuge  for  their  lives 

Under  the  name  arenarice,  these  catacombs  are  mentioned 
by  Cicero  and  by  Suetonius.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  much  con- 
troversy avIi ether  or  not  the  Pagan  Romans  used  these  dark 
and  gloomy  recesses  for  the  purposes  of  sepulture.  The 
Romans  did  not,  however,  usually  bury  the  bodies  of  their 
dead,  but  consumed  them  by  fire,  and  preserved  the  ashes  in 
urns,  a  practice  which  became  abhorrent  to  the  Christians, 
undei  the  hope  they  entertained  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  Seeing,  therefore,  that  sepulchres  in  the  catacombs  are 
adapted  for  the  reception  of  entire  bodies,  the  skeletons  or  the 
dust  of  which  are  found  in  them,  the  probability  is,  that  the 
Christians  were  the  first  to  put  them  to  this  service.  Indeed, 
the  exclusively  Christian  character  of  the  inscriptions  is  a 
sufficient  testimony  to  that  effect. 

Along  the  sides  of  the  galleries,  excavated  under  the  cir- 
cumstances described,  rising  in  tiers  above  each  other,  are 
horizontal  recesses  of  the  size  of  the  human  body,  fronted 
with  slabs  of  marble.  On  these  may  be  read  the  first  Chris- 
tian inscriptions ;  and  within,  the  dust  or  bones,  sometimes 
entire  skeletons  of  the  early  martyrs  and  disciples  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  are  enclosed.  Many  of  the  slabs  remain  in  the  cat- 
acombs, but  a  large  number  have  been  removed  to  the  galleries 
of  the  Vatican,  where  they  are  embedded  in  the  walls.  There 
can  be  no  deception  or  mistake  in  the  touching  mementoes 
of  these  rude  inscriptions.  There  may  be  seen  in  Rome  thou- 
sands of  cinerary  urns  and  tombs,  which  enclose  Pagan  dust. 
These  are  inscribed  to  many  gods,  to  the  deities  of  the  shades, 
and  ornamented  with  beautiful  but  vain  symbols,  speaking  of 
darkened  minds  and  hopeless  sorrows  ;  and  offering  in  all  re- 
spects a  marked  contrast  with  the  first  rude  sculptures  of  a 
vigorous  and  hopeful  Christian  faith  over  the  ashes  of  those 
who  had  lived  in  it,  or  died  or  suffered  for  it.  The  slabs  of 
marble  over  the  Christian  tombs  discard  the  pomp  of  epitaphs. 
They  more  generally  give  the  name  of  the  deceased,  the  length 
of  his  earthly  pilgrimage,  the  prayer  that  the  sleeper  may 


THE    CATACOMBS.  448 

"  rest  in  peace,"  and  generally  with  a  monogram*  formed  by 
the  letters  P.  X.,  meaning  in  or  for  Christ,  the  X  being  the 
initial  letter  of  the  Greek  name  of  Christ,  just  as  writers  even 
now  use  it  as  a  contraction  for  that  sacred  name  by  itself, 
and  in  such  words  as  Xmas,  Xian,  etc.  Some,  however,  allege 
that  the  monograms  merely  express  the  first  two  letters  of  the 
Greek  word  for  Christ.  Sometimes  is  added  a  rude  represen- 
tation of  a  cluster  of  grapes,  a  palm  branch,  a  fish,  a  bow  of 
promise,  a  dove,  an  anchor,  a  ship,  or  the  letters  A.  SI.,  in  ref- 
erence to  the  well-known  passage  (Rev.  xxi.  6)  in  which  our 
Lord  describes  himself  as  "  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First 
and  the  Last."  The  following  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  more 
simple  of  the  inscriptions: — "0  Donilius!  mayest  thou  rest 
in  peace.  Leo  did  this."  "  Apthona !  mayest  thou  live  in 
God."  "Farewell,  0  Sabrina!  She  lived  eight  years,  eight 
months,  twenty-two  days.  Mayest  thou  live  sweet  in  God." 
11  Irene,  in  peace.  Her  mother  Agapa  set  up  this.  In  Christ." 
"  Zoticus,  may  you  live.  Trust  in  the  Lord."  "Nicephorus, 
a  sweet  soul,  in  the  place  of  refreshment."  "  Laurence,  to  his 
sweetest  son  Severus,  borne  away  by  angels  on  the  seventh 
Ides  of  January."  "  Here  lies  Damalis.  So  God  wills."  Ex- 
pressions of  tenderness  and  character  occur  in  paternal  and 
conjugal  inscriptions;  and  it  is  in  such  epitaphs  that  we  begin 
to  discover  a  tendency  to  that  complimentary  form  of  Pagan 
epitaph,  which,  as  also  in  the  dismal  funeral  symbols  of  pagan- 
ism— the  urn,  the  inverted  torch,  the  broken  column,  and  the 
like — have  been  adopted  by  the  moderns,  in  preference  to  the 
simple  and  more  truly  Christian  style  of  monumental  inscrip- 
tion. "  To  Adsertor,  our  son,  dear,  sweet,  most  innocent,  and 
incomparable ;  who  lived  seventeen  years,  six  months,  and 
eight  days.  His  father  and  mother  set  up  this."  Sometimes 
the  age  is  expressed  with  still  greater  exactness  :  "  In  Christ. 
Died  on  the  Kalends  of  September,  Pompeianus  the  innocent, 
aged  six  years,  nine  months,  eight  days,  and  four  hours.  He 
sleeps  in  peace."  "  To  Claudius,  the  well-deserving  and  affeo 
*Sei  page  448. 


444  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

tionate,  who  loved  me.  He  lived  twenty-five  years,  more  or 
less.  In  peace."  "  Cecilius  the  husband,  to  Cecilia  Placidina, 
my  wife,  of  excellent  memory,  with  whom  I  lived  well  ten 
years,  without  any  quarrel.     In  Christ." 

In  regard  to  the  symbols  employed  ;  the  fish  was  chosen 
because  its  name  in  Greek,  contained  the  initial  letters  of  the 
Greek  for  "  Jesus  Christ,  son  of  God,  the  Saviour  ;"*  the  dove 
(with  or  without  olive  branch,  and  with  laurels  in  mouth  or 
claws),  with  reference  to  the  dove  returning  to  the  ark,  and  as 
hence  a  sign  of  safety  and  peace ;  the  palm  of  victory,  the  an- 
chor, as  the  close  of  a  holy  life ;  the  ship,  of  the  church  in 
her  heavenward  voyage,  etc. 

Sometimes  sundry  implements  are  represented  on  the  slabs, 
and  were  at  one  time  thought  to  denote  the  instruments  of 
martyrdom  or  torture  ;  but  they  are  now  conceived  to  express, 
in  agreement  with  subsisting  Oriental  usage,  the  trade  or  em- 
ployment of  the  deceased,  as  exhibited  by  the  principal  tool 
or  tools  of  his  craft. 

Another  set  of  symbols  found  upon  these  monuments  ex- 
press phonetically  the  name  of  the  deceased,  the  intention  of 
these  representations  being  rendered  apparent  by  the  accom- 
panying inscription.  Thus  the  tomb  of  Dracontius  exhibits  a 
dragon ;  that  of  Onager,  an  ass ;  that  of  Leo,  a  lion  ;  that  of 
Navira,  a  ship ;  that  of  Porcella  (little  pig),  a  hog,  etc. 

We  are  inclined  to  concur  in  the  view  of  Dr.  Maitland,f 
that  the  cause  which  most  powerfully  contributed  to  the 
adoption  of  Christian  symbols,  was  the  ignorance  of  reading 
and  writing  then  prevalent.  Books  and  even  inscriptions  were 
for  the  learned ;  unlettered  survivors  were  by  no  means  con- 

*  IXOY2=I?7crouf  Xpicroe  Qeov  Yeoc  2wr^p. 

f  Church  in  the  Catacombs,  London,  1846,  which,  together  with 
some  of  the  works  therein  cited  as  authorities,  with  various  books  on 
the  Antiquities  of  Rome,  and  an  article  entitled  Local  Vestiges  of  Early 
Propagation  of  Christianity  in  the  City  of  Rome,  in  an  American  pe- 
riodical— from  which  we  made  extracts  some  years  ago,  but  the  title 
and  date  of  which  are  lost — supply  most  of  the  information  digested 
in  this  Evening's  Reading. 


THE    CATACOMBS.  445 

soled  by  the  epitaph  of  the  deceased,  or  enlightened  by  the 
figures  expressing  his  age  and  the  day  of  his  death.  In  some 
cases  the  most  absurd  mistakes  of  the  stone-cutter  have  passed 
unaltered.  Even  where  the  sculptor  has  done  his  part  unex- 
ceptionally,  the  orthography  of  some  epitaphs  is  so  faulty  as 
almost  to  frustrate  their  intention,  by  rendering  them  scarcely 
intelligible  to  those  who  can  read.  For  persons  capable  of 
making  or  permitting  such  errors,  another  mode  of  represen- 
tation became  necessary,  and  the  symbols,  however  imperfectly 
they  supplied  the  deficiency,  were  the  only  substitutes  known. 
This  view  seems  forced  upon  us  by  the  existence  of  phonetic 
signs  just  noticed,  such  as  the  ass  on  the  tomb  of  Onager,  and 
the  lion  on  that  of  Leo — an  idea  so  strange,  and  to  our  taste 
so  bordering  upon  caricature,  that  it  is  only  to  be  explained 
by  the  necessity  of  some  characteristic  mark,  intelligible  to  his 
unlettered  relations.  When  those  employed  in  seeking  the 
grave  of  their  departed  friend  saw  the  lion,  the  ass,  the  pig, 
or  the  ship,  by  pronouncing  the  name  of  the  object,  they  ex- 
pressed that  of  the  occupant  of  the  tomb. 

The  fact  that  the  catacombs  not  only  furnished  sepulchres 
for  dead  believers,  but  retreats  for  the  living  in  time  of  perse 
cution,  rests  upon  good  evidence,  notwithstanding  the  objec 
tions  that  may  be  advanced  from  the  narrowness  of  the  pas- 
sages, the  difficulty  of  supporting  life,  and  the  risk  of  discovery 
in  asylums  so  well  known.  But  these  objections  scarcely  ap- 
ply to  a  temporary  residence  below  ground  in  times  of  danger, 
and  it  is  not  pretended  that  the  catacombs  were  used  as  habi- 
tations under  other  circumstances.  The  asylum  would  doubt- 
less have  been  insecure  had  the  passages  been  well  known  to 
the  heathen  authorities,  or  the  entrances  limited  in  number  to 
two  or  three ;  but  the  openings  into  them  were  numberless, 
scattered  for  miles  over  the  Campagna,  and  the  labyrinthian 
passages  below  were  so  occupied  by  the  Christians,  and  so 
blocked  up  in  various  places  by  them,  that  pursuit  must  have 
been  hopeless.  Besides  this,  the  discovery  ~of  wells  and  springs 
in  various  parts  of  the  corridors,  assists  us  in  understanding 


446  FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK — SATURDAY. 

how  life  could  be  supported  in  those  dismal  regions,  though 
there  is  no  evidence  that  the  wells  were  sunk  for  this  purpose. 
Moreover,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  entire  Christian  pop- 
ulation o£  Rome  resorted  to  these  retreats.  When  a  persecu- 
tion aro&a,  it  would  strike  first  at  the  elders  of  the  church,  the 
heads  of  families,  and  others  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  pa- 
gans ;  and  warned  by  the  signs  of  approaching  danger,  these 
might  easily  betake  themselves  to  the  catacombs,  where  they 
could  be  supported  by  those  whose  obscure  condition  left  them 
at  liberty- — particularly  by  the  humble  sand-diggers  who 
•laimed  a  sort  of  property  in  the  place,  and  among  whom  the 
Christian  faith  had  early  made  great  progress,  judging  from 
he  number  of  inscriptions  in  which  they  are  indicated. 

That  worship  *  was  held  in  these  caverns  may  also  be  shown 
on  good  testimony.  But  this  must  be  understood  with  much 
the  same  limitations  as  residence  in  them.  It  is  known  that 
before  the  time  of  Constantine,  there  were  in  Rome  many 
rooms  or  halls  employed  for  divine  worship,  though,  perhaps, 
not  any  edifices  built  expressly  for  the  purj)ose.  Besides  this, 
the  extreme  smallness  of  the  catacomb  chapels,  and  their  dis- 
tance from  the  usual  dwellings  of  the  Christians,  offer  serious 
objections  to  the  supposition  of  their  being  used  for  regular 
meetings.  Their  use  in  that  respect  must,  therefore,  be  limited 
to  times  of  persecution ;  but  that,  even  when  not  under  the 

*  The  evidence  afforded  by  a  long  monumental  inscription  in  the 
Vatican  Museum,  found  in  the  cemetery  of  Callistus,  is  very  important 
and  interesting.  It  refers  to  the  fifth  persecution  of  the  Christians, 
which  began  in  161,  a.  d.  "In  Christ.  Alexander  is  not  dead,  but 
lives  beyond  the  stars  ;  and  his  body  rests  in  this  tomb.  He  lived  un- 
der the  Emperor  Antonine,  who,  forseeing  that  great  benefit  would  re- 
sult from  his  services,  returned  evil  for  good ;  for,  while  on  his  knees, 
and  about  to  sacrifice  to  the  true  God,  he  was  led  away  to  execution. 
O  sad  times  !  in  which  sacred  rites  and  prayers,  even  iu  caverns,  afford 
no  protection  to  us.  What  can  be  more  wretched  than  such  a  life  ?  and 
what  than  such  a  death  ?  when  they  could  not  be  buried  by  friends 
and  relations — at  length  they  sparkle  iu  heaven.  He  has  scarcely  lived 
who  has  lived  in  Christian  tunes." — Maitland,  p.  S3. 


THE    CATACOMBS.  44} 

pressure  of  such  necessity,  the  catacombs  were  occasionally 
resorted  to  for  devotional  purposes  by  pious  individuals,  and 
by  bodies  of  Christians  for  special  solemnities,  is  shown  by  the 
testimony  of  ancient  writers,  by  some  of  the  inscriptions  them- 
selves, and  even  by  the  probabilities  of  the  case.  The  discov- 
ery of  chapels,  altars,  fonts,  and  episcopal  chairs,  would  show 
the  existence  of  a  subterranean  worship  at  some  time  or  other ; 
but  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  that  these  belong  to  the  early 
period  under  consideration. 

There  can,  upon  the  whole,  then,  be  no  manner  of  doubt  as 
to  the  traditions  which  fill  out  the  history  of  the  simple  in- 
scriptions in  the  catacombs,  and  assert  that  in  these  dark  cham- 
bers the  first  Roman  Christians  worshipped,  and  that  in  these 
neglected  galleries  were  laid  the  mangled  remains  of  the  mar- 
tyrs and  bodies  of  early  believers.  St.  Jerome,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fourth  century,  speaks  of  the  catacombs  as  a  place 
of  sacred  and  solemn  interest  to  him,  and  which,  while  still 
a  youth  pursuing  his  studies  at  Rome,  he  used  to  visit  on  Sun- 
days, in  company  with  other  young  men  like-minded.  A  few 
years  later,  a  Spaniard  named  Prudentius  visited  Rome  ;  and 
he  has  not  only  informed  us  that  while  there  he  loved  to  wan- 
der amid  those  solemn  testimonials  of  the  catacombs,  but  has 
left  evidence  of  the  fact  in  his  beautiful  hymns  upon  them, 
and  upon  the  men  and  scenes  associated  with  them. 

What  most  impresses  the  reflecting  mind  is,  that  Rome,  who 
has  so  grievously  departed  from  the  faith  in  Christ,  should  bear 
within  her  own  bosom,  "  written  with  an  iron  pen,  in  the  rock 
forever,"  evidence  against  her  own  corruptions,  in  the  memo- 
rials of  a  pure,  apostolic,  Pauline  faith,  from  which  no  one  has 
been  able  to  gather  a  shadow  of  evidence  in  favor  of  any  of 
those  bastard  dogmas  which  Rome  in  later  years  devised,  and 
has  to  this  day  strenuously  upheld.  We  find  here  no  trace  of 
Petrine  or  papal  supremacy,  no  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  no  wor- 
ship of  the  Virgin,  no  invocation  of  saints,  no  purgatory,  no 
prayers  for  the  dead,  no  representations  of  the  Deity  in  sculp- 
ture or  painting  ;  and  against  many  of  those  things  we  have 


448 


FIFTY-SECOND    WEEK SATURDAY. 


not  only  the  indirect,  though  impressive,  evidence  of  silence, 
but  the  plain  indication  of  the  contrary  practices  and  ideas. 
In  these  solemn  recesses  we  meet  with  "  none  but  Christ."  It 
is  the  unobscured  light  of  his  countenance,  as  of  the  sun  shin- 
ing in  its  strength,  that  irradiates  the  gloom  of  these  solitudes. 
He  is  the  Alpha,  the  Omega,  of  all  around.     All  is  of  Him— 

"  HIM  FIRST,  HIM  LAST,  HIM  MIDST,  HIM  WITHOUT  END." 


THE    END. 


BS491  .K62  v.8  RES.STORAGE 
Daily  Bible  illustrations :  being 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1   1012  00085  6676 


